These Walls
by AvalonBay
Summary: [Sequel to Made of Glass]. Avalon Mitchell is happier than ever, now with her past is behind her and a bright future looming ahead. However the balance of her life seem to be crumbling down and the walls she had put up are coming down with them. Balancing their lives against their ranger duties becomes even more difficult for the rangers; they're growing up.
1. Chapter 1: Higher Ground

**_Avalon Series_**

**All To Blame**•**Made Of Glass**•**These Walls**•**New Beginning**

Avalon Mitchell has always been a loner; always taking care of herself, and she wasn't afraid of anything. But her past and current mistakes make things hard for her when she transfers to Angel Grove High. Now she has to deal with working on a team along with keeping her secrets from them, knowing that if she is found out, her whole life would fall apart. Being part of the Angel Grove street gang, The Vipers, makes things harder for Avalon as she is constantly pulled in two different directions. The pressures of good vs. evil while battling her own demons has never been so strong and when it starts to affect everyone around her, she needs to figure out what's most important. _Tommy/Kim, Billy/Trini, Fred/Bailey, Jason/Avalon, Billy/Avalon, Rocky/Aisha, Adam/Sabrina, Adam/Tanya_, _Tommy/Kat, Connor/Bailey._

* * *

><p><strong>These Walls<strong>

**Full Summary** – [Sequel to Made of Glass]. Avalon Mitchell is happier than ever, now with her past is behind her and a bright future looming ahead. However the balance of her life seem to be crumbling down and the walls she had put up are coming down with them. It's one thing after the next; first a intergalactic being thought to be sealed away nearly destroys the world, then one of her best friends hides something so big from her and the rest of their friends that it nearly kills her, and more secrets are revealed with their powers and that there are even more monsters out there that want to destroy them other than Rita and Zedd. Balancing their lives against their ranger duties becomes even more difficult for the rangers; they're growing up. They're adults now; they should be able to handle what life throws their way. But when secrets are revealed and lies are exposed, the rangers come to realize that some things are more important.

_Tommy/Kim, Tommy/Kat, Fred/Bailey, Billy/Avalon, Rocky/Aisha, Adam/Sabrina, Adam/Tanya_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 01<strong>

_Higher Ground_

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you all are going skydiving today!"<p>

Mrs. Hart turned from the counter, nursing a steaming mug of coffee, and watched as her daughter practically skipped to the kitchen. Kimberly Hart dropped her bag onto the counter and pulled herself up onto the stool across from her mother. The pink ranger's eyes lit up as she reached out, grabbing a piece of toast from her mother's plate

"I know," she agreed. "It's so exciting! I didn't think we'd ever do something as cool as this." Her smile waned a little, slowly chewing the piece of toast. "I just wish it wasn't under such…sad circumstances, y'know? 'Cause Tommy had suggested it to Billy to make him feel better after this mother…"

Mrs. Hart nodded and the two fell silent.

It had been hard for the blue ranger in the past couple of months after his mother had been murdered by Rita Repulsa, Zedd, and Diabolico in their plan to destroy the rangers and take over the world. It had almost worked, too. They had invaded the school, captured the students and teachers, separated the rangers, and had sicked an evil clone of the green ranger against Tommy. While that was going on, they had murdered Billy's mother to cause psychological damage to him, enough to turn him evil. And it had worked for a while, but the rangers had managed to turn Billy back from evil and defeated the evil green ranger and the dragonzord. Billy and his father had dealt with it the best way anyone thought they could.

And while the past couple of months of the school year had made it hard for Billy in a few areas, he had managed to get past it and was more or less back to his normal self by the time summer rolled around. Now it was the start of their summer vacation and the rangers were excited to be doing something big to kick it off; the charity skydiving event to save the Angel Grove Observatory.

"But it should be really fun," Kimberly said, her face lighting up once more. Hardly anything could keep the energetic girl's happiness down. "I mean, how many people can say that they went skydiving, by themselves, after only a few months of practice?"

"Not many, I'm sure that most of them crashed to the ground," Mrs. Hart joked.

"Mom!"

"I'm only kidding, Kimmy. Relax." She watched as Kimberly took another bite of toast and dropped the piece of dried bread back onto her mother's plate. "Kim, you have to eat more than that if you're going to be jumping out of a plane."

"I'm meeting everyone at the Youth Center before we go," Kimberly explained. She slid off of the stool and rounded the island. Leaning into her mother, she gave her a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "No offense, but you have to lighten up."

Kimberly smiled as her mother rolled her eyes. She picked up her bag from the ground and slung it over her shoulder, before quickly walking out of the house. Once the door was closed behind her, she looked over her outfit for the day. A white crop-top and pink, high waisted, jean shorts that showed off a bit of her stomach.

Her flat, toned stomach.

Smiling to herself, the pink ranger placed her hand along her abs before skipping down the front steps of the porch and approached her car. All of the hard work she had done over the summer had paid off. Waking up early to go to gymnastics practices, working hard at the youth center to get some weight lifting and cardio in, and that's not including the workouts she got while working as a ranger. She felt stronger and was doing better to keep up with the other rangers in battle, even having been a great helping hand in defeating more of them as of late. Her diet was only limited when she needed it; when she felt bloated, when she didn't get to exercise as much as she had wanted in the day, when she simply didn't feel hungry.

But as the butterflies erupted in her stomach this morning, it was due to her excitement for jumping out of a plane and doing well enough to help save the observatory. As well as that, Hailey's comet was coming around in a few days and she was excited for the city-wide picnic that was going to be held that night, where, after the food was eaten, the residents of Angel Grove were to spend the night watching the sky for the space object.

It was the most romantic night of the year, and she planned on spending it with her boyfriend whom she dearly loved.

Checking her watch, the pink ranger quickly turned on her car and peeled out of the driveway, heading out to the Youth Center, where she was going to meet her friends. Once arriving, she hurried inside and found her friends sitting around a table, closest to the door. Kimberly smiled as she looked over her friends.

Tommy Oliver, her boyfriend and love of her life was sitting at the head of the table. He was laughing at something that Rocky DeSantos, the red ranger was saying to him and Kimberly felt her stomach explode with even more butterflies when she spotted him. He was the perfect guy for her; strong, loyal, great sense of justice, great fighter, and if it wasn't for the fact that he had some memory problems with caused for some of their few arguments when he forgot to pick her up for a date he would be absolutely perfect.

Rocky DeSantos was someone she had started to become close to. He made her laugh like no one's business and he did nothing but look at life with anything short of excitement. She had been a bit weary of him, after he had taken Jason Scott's place as being the red ranger—with Adam Park and Aisha Campbell taking the places of Zack Taylor and Trini Kwan—but his excitable personality was infectious and she loved having him around. Adam was quieter than the rest of the rangers, but that was a great change of pace, especially considering how he always had something sensible and helpful to say when he did speak up. His strong and silent demeanor was outmatched by his natural skill in martial arts and as time went on and he continued to teach classes along with Rocky over the summer, he started to come out of his shell. It probably helped that Aisha did his best to motivate him to step out of his shell a little bit. She was a bright ball of energy, her sunny disposition easily matching the color of her spandex and her sassiness had caused Kimberly to quickly become friends with her.

Looking over at the other side of the table, Kimberly took in Billy Cranston, Avalon Mitchell, Bailey Mitchell, and Fred Kelman. The blue, orange, and purple rangers respectfully as well as a new friend of theirs. Billy, she had known forever and she was glad that he was finally back to his normal self. Not that she didn't understand his grief, but he always dealt with his emotions in ways that were different than most people did; with logical and reason and that had scared her. The dark, empty look in his eyes the first few months after his mother's death was gone and replaced with that quiet excitement he always carried. Avalon, on the other hand, was standoffish and really rude to the rangers, keeping her secrets and her past as close to her as possible. But as she had finally gotten out of the gang, The Vipers, and her life continued to move upwards from there. The orange ranger was now one of Kimberly's best friends, her opposite personality to hers meshing together. Bailey, despite being Avalon's little sister, was like a little sister to all of the rangers and just as smart as Billy. She worked hard at her martial arts training with Tommy and she had managed to help the rangers get through some of the most difficult problems; her innocent view and excitement towards the world always left her thinking there was so much more out there than originally thought. And as the case was, she and Avalon were months away from being adopted by the Olivers, making the close relationship between the purple and white rangers much more official.

And Fred was a new friend of theirs, one of the few friends they had that _wasn't _a ranger. Not only did he look up to Tommy and practiced in martial arts as well, but it was actually really cute the way he was 'dating' Bailey. As much dating as the two of them could do at thirteen years old when they were too shy to really do anything. But she saw him a bit as a brother now, too, considering how much he was around now.

"Hey guys," She greeted them, hurrying over. She dropped her bag to the ground and gave Tommy a kiss, despite the noises of protest she received from Rocky and Avalon. "Aren't you guys so excited?"

"To be watching you all hurl to your deaths at hundreds of miles per hour?" Avalon asked. She laced her fingers together, resting her hands on the table. "Yes, I'm actually really looking forward to that."

Aisha laughed. "You know you could come with us?"

"No, thanks, mate. I told you before that my feet like to stay firmly planted on the ground, thank you very much." The orange ranger grinned as the group of friends burst out laughing. Raising her hands, she tucked her long hair behind her ears and Kimberly smiled when she noticed the new thunderbolt tattoo that was on the inside of her left wrist. "But don't come crying to me when you can't get out of the plane."

"Once again, Ava, your vote of confidence is really uplifting," Billy teased her, gently nudging her shoulder with his own.

"I try."

Aisha reached out and swatted her on the arm. "Her vote aside, this is going to be the best experience ever! I've always wanted to do this and I'm glad that I finally have an excuse to." She paused and brought her hands up to cover her mouth, suddenly looking stricken. She exchanged a glance with Rocky and Adam, who appeared just as unnerved as she did.

Noticing the look, Billy chuckled, gently shaking his head. "Guys, I'm fine," he insisted. "It's been months…it'll take a while to get over it completely, but…I'm fine. My Dad's fine too…things are harder for him, but that's to be expected." He bobbed his head back and forth. "Christmas might be hard, but…we'll get through it." He turned to Tommy. "I have to thank you, again, for suggesting this. It's going to be a lot of fun."

"No problem, man," Tommy agreed. "I'm glad that you're still up for it. And, besides, we're saving the observatory. We can't have it close down right before Hailey's comet comes around, right?" He rubbed his hands against the legs of his white pants. "I just hope we have enough people to jump to raise money."

"My Dad's gonna do it," Fred jumped in. He scratched his forehead, pushing up the hat that always rested over his light brown tresses. "When he's not working on the construction site he loves to go there and look at the new exhibits."

"That's cool," Bailey agreed. She pouted. "I still wish I could do it. _I'm _not afraid to jump out of planes." Avalon gave her sister the stink-eye but didn't otherwise reply as the friends laughed once more.

"Well, no one's going to be jumping out of any plane if we don't get going soon," Adam reminded his friends, looking at his watch ."The plane is going to take off in about an hour and we need to get there early so that we can go over the last minute safety precautions and everything."

Avalon motioned to the blank ranger, eyes widening. "And you boofheads wonder why I don't want to do it."

"Aww, don't worry Av." Rocky placed his hands on the orange ranger's shoulders and gently shook her. "If you ever need to do anything dangerous, like crossing the street, one of us will be there to hold your hand the whole way." He laughed and ducked out of the way as the orange ranger scowled and swung a punch at him.

Kimberly giggled. Stooping to pick up her bag, she noticed a pensive expression on Billy's face as he was the only one that hadn't moved from the table to gather his things. She exchanged a glance with Tommy before leaning over towards the blue ranger and waved a hand in his face. "Billy, are you OK?"

He snapped out of his reverie and smiled up at her. "Yeah, Kim. I'm fine." He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder before handing her her own. "Thanks for asking." Kimberly glanced at him and seeing that he meant it, she smiled and nodded back.

"You're welcome."

She turned and started to follow the group of out of the Youth Center. Her stomach growled and she stopped walking, moving her hand to her stomach. It growled loudly once more and a dizzy spell washed over her. Letting out a quiet moan, she brought her hand up to her forehead. _Maybe I should've eaten something earlier this morning. _She thought.

"Kim, are you OK?" Adam asked, coming up to her side.

The pink ranger flashed him the smile she had managed to perfect over the past couple of months as her mother would ask her the same question. "Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit anxious," she explained. "I was in such a rush to get out this morning I didn't get much of a chance to eat breakfast."

"We can go back and get you something really fast," Adam suggested, pointing over his shoulder towards the juice bar. Kimberly followed his gaze and hesitated, watching as Ernie cleaned out the inside of the blender, watching the TV, as well as speaking to Violet McKinley, who seemed to be half-listening to what he was saying. "It won't take long, and besides," he lowered his voice, sharing a secret smile with her. "We can teleport to catch up with the others if we need to."

Kimberly smiled back at him. "That's alright," she replied. "I can just get a bagel or a banana or something down at the launch site. Let's go!" She grabbed onto Adam's arm and tugged him forward and out the Youth Center to catch up to their friends.

* * *

><p>"Zedd! I've been calling you for the last ten minutes!" Rita Repulsa shrieked as she walked onto the balcony of the Lunar Palace. "I thought you said you were going to rub my feet!"<p>

"I wouldn't touch your crusty feet with a hundred foot pole," Zedd replied. He turned and motioned towards Earth with his Z-scepter. "Besides, there are more important things we need to worry about. I just had a feeling of a wave of evil coming from Earth. And if I'm not mistaken, it will be the thing that'll destroy the rangers once and for all." He turned and held out a hand towards his wife. "That is, if you don't mind working with the person _I _choose this time."

Rita scowled. "My plan with Diabolico was going to work, too. I don't understand what happened!"

"_You _happened, that's what," Zedd said. "You're always messing something up." As Rita's scowl deepened, Zedd leaned in and gave his wife a kiss. "But that's what I like about you, you mess up and I can work my magic and fix it for you. We just work that way, baby."

"Oh, Zeddy, you know how to treat a woman," Rita said with a pleased smile as Zedd gave her another kiss then kissed her neck. "What is it that you have planned this time?"

Pulling himself away from his wife's neck, Zedd dropped his arm from around her and looked down at Earth once more. "As I was saying, I sensed a wave of evil energy and it's gotten stronger by the day. I looked down on Earth and those sniveling humans are doing all of the work for us. It appears that they've found the burial site of the egg."

Rita's mouth dropped open.

'The egg' could've been anything, but she, Zedd, and everyone evil in the known galaxy knew what the 'the egg' was and what it held. Had it really been that long? Had it already been 6,000 years since he was put away? It was always said that he'd come back in that time, but she never believed it. Then again, she had been stuck in that forsaken space dumpster for 10,000 years so what did she know about the passage of time?

"Ivan Ooze is being unearthed?" She questioned.

"Yes, my dear and with him on our side, we'll be unstoppable!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And now the first chapter is done! They're usually ones done to make sure that things from the last few stories are explained, so things pick up with the next one. Next chapter will be up on Tuesday.

This story goes through season 3 and Zeo with plots from the show tying in with specific plots I have for each of the characters. Some of which have been teased in this first chapter. Thanks for sticking with me throughout the whole series. If you suddenly stumbled upon this story, you need to read _All To Blame _and _Made of Glass _first for things to make sense. Also, that being said, I forgot to add something in the last chapter of _Made of Glass _that would be the start of a side-story I'm working on soon, that'll be in its own timeline, so I briefly mentioned it here.

Oh and thanks to _heartpunker123 _for talking me through some of the ideas of these next few chapters.

~Avalon


	2. Chapter 2: Free Ride

**Chapter 02  
><strong>

_Free Ride_

* * *

><p>"Now that Ivan Ooze is revealing himself once more, we have to move along with <em>my <em>plan," Zedd said. "We need to outmatch the rangers and the only way we can do that is to send out the ones that are the strongest."

He hoisted his Z-scepter into the air and looked down the long dining table—created by the bones of his years of captors—and locked his eyes on Goldar and Scorpina. "You two are certainly going to be the ones I am going to send out in battle. But we need someone else. There are only three other horoscope monsters that we can choose from, Virginia, Leos, and Taurustria apart from your, Scorpina. I need someone that'll be strong and can hold their own along with you two. You've done nothing but show me that you can do whatever it is that I need you to do and you will be the ones that'll continue to help me slowly defeat the rangers."

"I have a suggestion my liege," Goldar said. Zedd slowly nodded over at him, allowing him to speak. "Let me and Scorpina take the helm. We could've helped destroy the rangers when the evil green ranger was around and when you had turned the blue ranger evil. We managed to deal them a lot of damage when it came to the fight while they had been in Australia. We can hold our own."

Sitting across the table from Goldar, Scorpina slowly nodded. She waited for her chance to speak, but all the while agreed with what Zedd had to say. It was their plan the whole time, get rid of the rest of the horoscope monsters and they could be the ones that would solidify their place as the ones that would destroy the rangers once and for all.

"That's a very interesting thought," Zedd agreed. "But I do have another idea." He waved a hand and brought t back down, so that his fingers rested against the arm of his chair—recently reinforced from the femur of one of his captives. He made a mental note to find some more, there were other pieces of furniture in the Lunar Palace that needed to be fixed. The three waited for a few moments then the door behind him slid open and the three remaining horoscope monsters walked into the room.

"You wanted to see us?" Leos asked.

Zedd turned around in his chair. "Yes," he drawled. "I wanted to give you a fair departure." Lifting up his z-scepter he shot a beam of electricity towards the three monsters and watched as they exploded in a bright flash of light. Turning back around, he casually faced the golden monsters. "They were starting to get on my nerves; Rita can't make a good monster to save her life. Now, as I was saying. We're going to be teaming up with Ivan Ooze and to be sure that he leads the charge in the destruction of the rangers, we need to be sure that we can knock them down as far as we can. You're strong on our own, but we need someone else."

"What about Diabolico again?" Scorpina suggested. "The orange, purple, and blue rangers are clearly spooked by him for different reasons." She smiled maliciously. "One last his dear old mother and the others lost their brother."

"No, we need to save the psychological warfare once more," Zedd grumbled. "Now, I need to be sure that we're going to actually win. With the rest of the rangers behind them, giving them support, they'll be able to come back from our tactics pretty easily." He tapped his fingers on the side of his face. "Who can we get?"

There was the sound of the doors behind hem opening once more and when he expected to hear the sound of his wife's grating voice, instead he heard a voice that was low and ominous. "Well, Zeddy, look no further because my dear sister has contacted me to help."

Swiveling around in his chair, Zedd took in the form that was Rito Revolto. The monster didn't appear to be in resemblance to Rita, as he was completely made of bones. However, Zedd knew it was because of a time when they were young, Rita had wanted a planet for a birthday present but their parents had given her a fire-breathing dragon. In retaliation, Rita had the dragon burn the house down, which had burned Rito beyond recognition. However, that moment in time had turned Rito from being a bumbling little brother to one of the most malicious monsters Rita had ever known.

"Now, I'm aware that Ivan Ooze is someone you want to work with and while he is one of the baddest dudes in the galaxy, you can't get to him or the rangers without me," Rito said. He waved his bone sword around, looking over at Goldar and Scorpina before looking at Zedd once more. "That is…if you want my help."

Wordlessly, Zedd stood up from his seat and motioned for Goldar and Scorpina to follow him. The group of evil doers walked to a room of the Lunar Palace where Finster had his lab set up. He, Squatt, and Babboo, under Rita's shrieking orders, were creating clay molds of Putties that would be sent down to Earth to deter the rangers.

"Everyone stop what they're doing!" Zedd ordered. "We have a new plan!" Finster, Squatt, and Babboo hesitated, unsure whether or not they were going to follow his orders or not as Rita was the one they had done most of their work for.

"What is it?!" Rita snapped, turning to towards her husband. She then noticed her brother and a loud piercing scream, even louder than her already squeaky voice, and grabbed her brother in a hug. Zedd let out a low growl, wincing at the loud screeching. "Rito Revolto! I didn't think I'd see you again. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just eliminating some rangers, Sis," Rito replied nonchalantly. "You know how it is."

"Yes, my dear." Zedd stepped forward. "Rito is going to help us destroy the rangers once and for all. The first thing we're going to do is go find Ivan Ooze and open his place of holding. And we need to do it right now. Not only will they be stuck trying to deal with him when he first opens up, but then we'll swoop in when they're distracted and _destroy _them _and _Angel Grove." He started to rub his neck. "And anything that manages to survive, we'll take them and skin them alive. I've needed to fix a lot of the furniture around here."

Rita draped her arm around Zedd's shoulders. "I love it when you talk evil like that."

Goldar and Scorpina exchanged glances and made retching sounds, pretending to stick fingers down their throats. Rito, on the other hand, started to wave around his bone sword. "While you guys get Ivan, I'll be glad to start on the flailing! I haven't heard the torturous screams of my prey in a long time. It'll be music to my ears."

"Not yet," Zedd declared. "First we have to find Ivan!" He waved his scepter and a portal opened in a swirl of red light. He, Goldar, Scorpina, Rita, and Rito stepped through the portal and the five were beamed down to earth, where the portal had opened in the middle of the construction site. Zedd looked around, noting how empty it was, and waved a hand, following the energy of darkness over to a spot that was covered by a small mound of loose dirt. "Ah, here it is!"

"Are you sure?" Rito asked, his voice lowering to a murderous tone.

"I'm positive." Zedd took a step back and motioned for Rita to hold up her magic wand. "Now." The two placed their wand and scepters together and mixed their powers together, bright bolts of magic and electricity. The other monsters stepped back and watched as the mixture of dark energy zapped along the ground in a circle and the loose dirt fell away before revealing a large, purple egg held being held by black talons.

As the dark energy continue to swirl around the egg, the talons dropped away and the egg opened to reveal purple goop inside.

"And I thought I saw worse on my slug sandwich," Rita muttered, her upper lip curling. "This looks like snot! Why would we come to find this?"

"Patience, my dear. For once in your life, please just be patient." He motioned to the inside of the egg. "This is the contents that will have us destroy the world once and for all. Then we'll take over the galaxy and continue to have free reign over all of the others that come our way."

"A tub of snot is going to do that?" Goldar asked.

"Quiet!" Scorpina snapped at him. "They know what they're doing! You have to have faith in our Master and Mistress." She looped her arm through Goldar's and moved closer to him. She murmured, "Remember our plan. It's not going to come through unless we go along with what they want, Goldar." She continued to stroke his arm, her lips curling up into a warm smile as he shook his head, looking away. "It's like Lord Zedd has said, have patience."

Goldar nodded.

The contents inside the egg started to swirl around then started to form a shape, moving out of the egg and onto the ground. The morphological being stretched his arms, legs, and neck before addressing the league of monsters in front of him. "You won't believe how long I've been in there," he said. "Now I know the meaning of eggs being scrambled."

"I know the feeling," Rita agreed. "Try being in a space dumpster for 10,000 years."

Ivan reached out and grabbed onto Rita's hand, kissing the back of it. "I feel your pain," he said to her. Zedd growled and pushed Ivan's hand away from his wife, back to himself. "I see I struck a nerve with the husband. My apologies."

"Please do," Goldar said, earning another sharp glance from his golden companion. Was it his fault he couldn't stand the mushyness that his former completely evil Master constantly put out whenever the two of them were around each other? He didn't think so. Besides, it was all he could stomach, something had to get the Prince of Darkness back to the evil overlord he had been.

"And not that it's not great to see you all, but what reasons do you have for waking me out of my slumber?" Ivan asked, bringing a hand up to twist around his chin. "Not only am I glad to be back, but I plan on catching up on everything I missed. You know…the Brady Bunch reunion."

Zedd took a step closer to Ivan. "Zordon of Eltar…" The words immediately caused the jovial expression on Ivan's face to twist into one of pure fury. The purple monster's chest even started to heave up and down, electricity crackling at his fingertips. "He needs to be destroyed. We shall team up and get rid of him _and _the pesky power rangers!"

"I will obliterate him," Ivan replied, chest still heaving. "I will crush him and all of the existence of the Power Rangers. Never again will I have to hear the name, Zordon! It will be like he never existed. And it'll be so easy. He hasn't faced anyone like me in a long time; he will be in for a rude awakening when they come to face me!" As if to prove his point he pointed a finger towards a large bolder that sat on the side of the construction site, and a bolt of electricity shot out and crashed into the walk, immediately blowing it up.

The evil monsters ducked out of the way as dust and dirt rained down upon them. Due to the heat of the lightning, the rock had half turned to molten while the other had been shot towards the sky. Ivan turned back to Rita and Zedd, grinning.

"Leave this to me," he growled.

Zedd nodded. "Rito, Goldar, Scorpina, go now and start attacking the city! The rangers won't know what hit them!"

"Yes, sir!" Goldar and Scorpina replied and disappeared in a rush of flames.

Rito laughed lowly, evilly as he disappeared in a rush of flames and skulls.

Everything was going perfectly.

* * *

><p>"Man, I wish I was going up there with them," Fred said as he watched the rangers get their jump gear on and move towards getting into the biplane that would take them to the drop zone. "It would be so cool! How many other teenagers can say they went skydiving?"<p>

"How many other teenagers can say their father's went skydiving and landed in the parking lot," Bailey shot back. She flashed him a teasing smile. "About two-hundred feet away from where they were suppose to land." Rolling his eyes, Fred reached out and knocked her on the arm. "C'mon, mate, it's not that embarrassing."

"That's what you think," Fred replied.

Avalon laughed as the three turned around and started to walk towards the area where they could watch their friends jump. Along the way, they bumped in to Bulk and Skull, who was heading towards the jump area. "Hey guys," She greeted her friends. "Are you ready to jump, too?"

"Oh yeah!" Bulk agreed. "The Stealth Eagle is ready to fly!"

"So you're the Stealth Eagle and you're…" she turned to Skull, looking him up and down, taking in the feathers that were attached to the helmet he held in his hands. The jump pack that was on his back caused him to lean backwards every few seconds where he would rock forwards once more, hoping to regain his balance. "The spring chicken?"

Skull laughed loudly before turning serious. "No, the Swooping Swallow."

"Like that's even better," Fred muttered. Bailey elbowed him in the side and the two shared a secret smile as they tried not to laugh.

"Good one," Avalon said. "Well, you might want to get up there, the plane's leaving soon. I'll be cheering you guys on." She smiled to her friends once more before walking around them and coming to a stop by Mike Kelman, who stood with a parachute around his arms.

"So why don't you go out with him, Av?" Bailey suggested. "He's nice and was one of the few people that you were friends with when you first started going to Angel Grove High." The orange ranger gave her sister a look, her eyebrow raised in confusion. "I'm just saying that you've been alone long enough. You could use a boyfriend."

"Geez, now you're starting to sound like Kim," Avalon said. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Besides, it'd never work." She tilted her head to the side and looked at Bailey out of the corner of her eye. "It'd bring him too much trouble."

Bailey was confused for a moment, then immediately understood what she meant. Skull wasn't a ranger and a relationship with someone that she had to keep a secret that big from would be hard to keep. Which was why Kimberly and Tommy were so lucky-and if Bailey wasn't seeing things-Rocky and Aisha. They were all rangers and understood what it meant to be busy and to have to disappear at a moment's notice. Even Avalon sort of understand what that was, as she had dated Chase when she was still part of the Vipers and the two of them had been working together. _Though, I can't actually say it was good work, _Bailey reminded herself.

But what did that mean for her and Fred? They weren't in a relationship, not exactly, or maybe they were. She didn't even know, really. Dating was nothing but confusing in general and considering the only thing the two of them had done was hold hands and he kissed her on the cheek once…they were just friends, right? _But friends don't keep secrets; even Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone know that we're rangers. Why can't Fred?_

She looked at the teenage boy out of the corner of her eye and let out a quiet sigh. How would he react if she told him she was one of the power rangers? Would he be mad? Would he be shocked? Would he be excited? Better yet, would he still be her friend? Apart from the rangers in general, Fred was the only one her age that was her friend and things could be kind of lonely. She didn't want to jeopardize that.

"That and the fact that she'd probably scare them all away," Fred joked. Avalon reached out and smacked him on the back of the head as he laughed and rubbed his head. He turned to his father, who had watched the exchange and laughed along with the girls. "You're just going to let them abuse me like that?"

"If there's anything that'll get you to understand that woman rule the world, then I'm all for it," Mike replied with a laugh. He shifted his parachute in his hands. "And, besides, the way I see it, I wouldn't be the one that would talk about girlfriends." He and Avalon laughed as Fred and Bailey glanced at each other and smiled shyly, looking away as they blushed. Mike winked at Avalon. "I thought that'd get him."

"If that's the easiest way to get my sister to stop talking for once, I'm all for it, mate," Avalon agreed.

The purple ranger stuck her tongue out at her sister then rested her arm along the fence that held them off from the drop zone. The four watched as some of the earlier jumpers came down and landed on the large target with precision. It was only a few moments later that the rangers all came down, much to the excitement of the crowd around them.

One by one the rangers dropped down onto the landing zone, landing in the middle of the target, perfectly. Avalon, Fred, Bailey, and Mike all cheered for their friends before hurrying over after they had all landed and grabbed their parachutes, starting to fold them.

"Great job!" Bailey cheered, hurrying over and giving each of them a hug, starting with Tommy. "Nice work with the snowboard, Bro."

"Just when we thought that there was something you _couldn't _do," Avalon added, causing Rocky and Adam to laugh. She leaned over and gave him a hug, too. "Bonzer!"

"Thanks Sis," Tommy said to the two girls. Though the Mitchell sisters hadn't been adopted yet, the time they spent with the Olivers over the summer had the three of them calling each other by their new relationship as soon as the papers had gone through. "You really should've come up with us."

"Yes! It was awesome!" Kimberly agreed. "Once you're up there…you feel completely weightless."

"Yeah, even though I had that huge breakfast before we went," Rocky added. He placed his hands on his stomach, gently rubbing it. "I'm hungry already."

"Did you forget that gravity is a thing?" Avalon asked with a teasing lift to her voice.

Billy laughed. "As much as I've drilled it into your head after your many falls, I don't think that's possible, Ava."

Mike placed his hands on Fred's shoulders. "Fred here has been dying to let him go sky diving, too," he said. "Before today I was really against it, but after having experienced it myself and seeing how well you kids have done after a few months of lessons, I think it may have just changed my mind."

"Just as long as you don't land in the parking lot again, Dad." Fred patted his father's hand, before pushing it off his shoulders. "That was more than enough embarrassment that I could handle."

"But don't forget that it was for a good cause," Adam pointed out. He motioned around the fairgrounds where food carts had been set up for those that would be watching the jumps by the professionals and volunteers. "The proceeds from our jump as well as the food that they sell are going towards the conservatory."

"The one that we just saved!" Aisha cried as she hurried over. She stated to bounce on her toes, pointing over her shoulders. "I just got word from the owner of the center and we did it! They're keeping the place open!"

"Congratulations," Mike said to the group. He reached out a hand towards Tommy and the white ranger took it, shaking it firmly. "What you guys did for the place is very much appreciated. The conservatory has a new lease on life thanks to you all."

"No problem, man, we're glad to do it," Tommy said.

"Especially now that Hailey's comet is coming in a few days time," Bailey added. "I've always wanted to see it, but it's never come close to where we are." She shrugged good-naturedly then froze, looking around at the group then behind at the drop zone that was being cleared up. "Hey guys…where're Bulk and Skull?"

"Oh yeah! The blokes went up with you lot. I said I'd watch em' come down," Avalon added.

"I'm sure they're OK," Aisha said as all eyes turned towards the dark blue sky the reflected the perfect day. "If anything they may have bribed the pilot to drop them off at Ernie's. He's doing a free desert with lunch special for the occasion." She laughed along with the rangers.

"Well, if that's the case let's head over there," Avalon suggested. She placed her hands on her chest. "It's on me, this time and, yes, Rocky, you can get whatever you want," she added, noticing the red ranger's eyes lit up.

Adam nodded then smiled shyly. "Sounds good to me," he agreed. "I told Sabrina I would meet her there after the jump. We're going to have lunch together." He ignored Aisha's and Kimberly's well-timed coos and looked at his watch. "Let's just get our rollerblades and then we can all head over there."

"OK." The orange ranger then turned to Fred and the purple ranger. "Are you guys coming too?" She asked them.

"Nah." Fred shook his head. "Dad said he would take us to check out the carnival games and stuff." He gave the rangers a short wave and nudged Bailey's arm before taking off with his father. "I'll see you guys later."

"Hoo roo," Bailey added, waving as well before hurrying to catch up to the guys.

The older rangers grabbed their parachutes and started to head towards the locker room of the observatory, used by those that were jumping that day. The girls and boys separated into their own locker rooms and stared to get read. Avalon straddled the bench that sat in the middle of the locker room floor, adjusting the strap of her white overall shorts, an orange crop top underneath and her orange flannel shirt around her waist.

"Was it really that fun?" She asked them.

"Totally, Av. You really should've come with us," Aisha said as she changed. "It was a blast."

"I'll keep that in mind next time," the orange ranger said calmly. "But watching it was just as cool." She waved a hand. "Scores didn't count, of course, but Fred, Bay, and I had a good time judging everyone's landings."

"Mmm. And how'd we do?" Kimberly closed her locker door and leaned against it, pressing a hand to her hip. Her eyes were lit up with mirth that only the pink ranger could hold."

"Perfect score of course. We gave Mike a reprieve because of his…not so stellar landing, but he hadn't practiced as much as you guys did."

"Speaking of." Kimberly moved forward and straddled the bench in front of Avalon, leaning towards her. "Are Bailey and Fred dating yet? It's really cute the way they act so shy around each other. They always say young love is the more sincere kind of love."

"Who says that?" Aisha laughed.

Kimberly paused, rolling her eyes. "OK, I did. But it's true." Her statement caused the orange ranger to snort, rolling her eyes. Indignantly, the pink ranger reached out and slapped her on the arm. "Hey, what I'm saying is true!"

"If that were the case then my dates with Chase would've been to walk around the mall and look at the stores, not to case them out to see which the best to rob were," Avalon said. She then let out a quiet sigh, noticing Kimberly's eyes widen and hearing Aisha's gasp. She had actually forgotten she left that part out of the story she had told Rocky, Adam, and Aisha about her past months before. _Now that I think about it, I don't think I've told anyone but Kim, _Avalon thought, noticing the wave of guilt that washed over her. Scratching the back of her head, she turned to the yellow ranger, who continued to gape at her, holding her shirt in her hands. "Yeah…I, uh, I dated Chase a long time ago."

"The one that led The Vipers?"

"Yeah."

"But…why? Wasn't he kind of dangerous?"

A light blush tinged the orange ranger's cheeks as she shrugged nonchalantly, trying to downplay the situation. "In a good way," she said in his defense. "And in a bad way. He was there for me when no one else was, that was it, really."

"Good, because he doesn't seem like your type." Aisha shared a knowing smile with the pink ranger before pulling her shirt over her head and closing her locker door. She started to pull on the protective elbow and knee padding for her blades.

Now at that statement, the orange ranger looked back and forth between the pink and the yellow. "Oh really? And what is my type?" As Kimberly opened her mouth, she held up her hand. "Better yet, now that I'm spilling out all of my secrets, mate, Jason is _not_ my type. In fact, I kissed him twice and each time I did kiss him it proved it so you can stop there."

The loud shriek that came from Kimberly's mouth was sure to have the boys rushing in, thinking there was a putty attacking. But as the seconds passed and the girls stayed silent, Kimberly with their hands over her mouth, the three started to laugh. Finally, when she caught her breath, Aisha moved onto the bench behind Avalon and the three girls turned so that they were facing the same way. "I thought there was something going on with you, two," Kimberly finally said.

"Nothing was going on, boofhead," Avalon insisted. "Besides, you only think that because you were trying to set us up. Sure, the chemistry was there, but…"

"Well, if you're not interested in Jason, who _are _you interested in?"

Skillfully, Avalon changed the subject from herself over to the yellow ranger that sat on her other side. "Why don't you ask her, yeah? I'm surprised you're not trying to use your matchmaking skills to set up with Rocky."

Now the African-American girl appeared embarrassed as she lowered her gaze. "I don't know…what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, you and Rocky," Kimberly insisted. "I saw you at the funeral, you didn't let go of each other's hand all day. Granted, it's was a sad occasion, but I can tell just by the way he looks at you that he's totally into you."

"And you'd know that from the way Tommy's always looking at you, right?" the orange ranger asked sarcastically, causing the yellow ranger to laugh and the pink to roll her eyes. They were interrupted by the sound of the door to the locker room opening.

"Are you girls ready to go?" Rocky called impatiently. "I'm ready to get some food."

"Coming!" Aisha quickly called back. She turned back to the pink and orange rangers, who now exchanged a look. The yellow ranger's upper lip curled. "Shut up," she said, causing the girls to laugh once more and gather their pads and rollerblades. Avalon was the first to finish putting hers on and left the locker room. "Hey, Kim, she never answered your questions." Kim thought for a moment then smiled, shaking her head. "She's good at that."

"She's not the only one," Kimberly said mysteriously. "C'mon." The two remaining female rangers quickly finished putting their pads on before heading out of the locker room and outside of the observatory.

"All right!" Rocky punched the air. "To Ernie's!"

The rangers all let out whoops and hollers of excitement and started to rollerblade to the local youth hangout. The whir of their small rubber wheels on the asphalt hummed around them with every stride they took, coupled with their laughter and cries of excitement as they went. The warm summer sun beamed down at them as they moved along the path at a leisurely pace, taking in the sights around them as they went. The gentle breeze wrapped itself around the group of friends as they continued to glide past the sites around them; the construction area that was going to replace the office buildings that had been destroyed in one of their last major battles, the fountains that lined the areas in front of large buildings, playgrounds, restaurants.

The rangers weaved gracefully around dog walking adults and bike riding children, greeting them all with a smile before gliding past. Of course the boys couldn't help but show off a little, if there was ever a large embankment to jump over or a set of stairs to roll down they attacked it with the same amount of confidence they had in battle. The girls weren't left out though, as they showed off their skills on the rollerblades on smaller embankments and jumps.

Soon they spotted Ernie's juice bar in the distance and Rocky started to pump his legs faster, practically able to see the free desert in front of his face. But it was the sound of his communicator going off that dashed his hopes and dreams and he quickly skidded to a stop. Aisha, who was right behind him, crashed into him and fell to the ground.

"Oh, sorry 'Sha," Rocky quickly apologized. He reached out and grabbed onto her hands, pulling her back to her feet. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm good. " She reached up, adjusting her helmet so it sat just right and flashed him a smile. "I'm good to go."

"C'mon, let's go over there," Billy said, pointing off towards an area that was enclosed by bushes. "No one will come by." He led the teens over to the area and leaned close to Tommy as he lifted his communicator to bring him in connection with the Command Center.

"What's going on Alpha?"

_"You're needed at the Command Center immediately,"_ Alpha replied. _"I have Bailey on her way now, too."_

"Got it," Tommy said. "We're headed up."

The rangers teleported to the Command Center and arrived at the same time Bailey did. She brushed her hair back, placing a stuffed animal on the floor of the Command Center and hurried over to her friends, standing at attention. Alpha was already passing back and forth at a frantic pace, babbling a mile a minute.

"Rangers," Zordon said as soon as they arrived. "You need to move quickly. The planet is in grave danger. Our sensors indicated dark energy has been released on the planet and, unfortunately, it has been proven true."

Billy placed his hands on his hips. "What kind of dark energy, Zordon?"

"There was a morphological being locked away 6,000 years ago," Zordon explained. "He ruled the world under horrific powers with his most powerful weapons. He had been lured into a hyperlock chamber and buried deep underground by heroes like yourselves. Unfortunately, the chamber has been opened and he may immediately go after his ectomorphicons. If he finds them, the world is in grave danger."

"Can you send us down to the coordinates?" Adam asked. "It'd be best if we knew where to find him rather than go looking."

"As it is, he's free and, as Alpha has said, has started looking for his weapons. We have his exact locations and can send you there right now," Zordon said.

"But please be careful, rangers," Alpha warned them. "He's very powerful."

"No worries, Alpha, we can handle him," Bailey said confidently.

Alpha nodded and pressed a few buttons on the control panel and teleported the rangers to the construction site. The day had passed quickly, as the jumps from the plane had been done throughout the day. Now night had fallen and the rangers slowly moved through the construction site, quietly.

"This place just screams horror movie, yeah?" Avalon said, looking around.

"So I guess splitting up would be a bad idea," Rocky joked.

"A very bad idea," Tommy agreed. "Keep your eyes peeled."

"Well, you don't have to go looking too hard." The drawl came from behind them and the rangers whirled around to find Ivan Ooze standing behind them. He laughed, showing off his sharp teeth, slowly moving towards them. "I figured I'd introduce myself. My name is Ivan Ooze." He pointed over towards Bailey, noticing her purple attire. "And you stole my color," he remarked. "I guess a lot has changed over the past 6,000 years, teenagers don't understand what does and doesn't belong to them. But once the Earth is taken over, you'll get the message."

"Don't count on it," Rocky declared, pointing at him. "We're not going to let you take over Earth."

"Really?" Ivan didn't appear to be threatened in the slightest. In fact, his voice held a slight sense of amusement. "I didn't realize I was dealing with the National Guard."

"Try the Power Rangers," Tommy said.

Ivan snorted. "Zordon couldn't do anything on his own for once? He still uses a bunch of kids to use his dirty work." He twisted his mouth to the side before bringing his hands up. "Well, we should even the playing field shouldn't we?"

Electricity burst out form his hands and onto the ground where a group of footmen appeared at his side. They all had similar appearances to Ivan, though their eyes were hollow and teeth a lot sharper, claws extending from the ends of their fingers. They weren't like normal putties and the rangers could easily see that.

"We'll see how well you can handle my Ooze Men," Ivan crowed. "I bet you'll be coming back in different colored coffins!" He laughed loudly and teleported out of the construction area. The Ooze Monsters started to converge upon the rangers, moving closer towards them with each step they took.

The rangers watched in despair as the Ooze Monsters continued to move closer towards them, pushing them to the edge of the cliff.

They were trapped.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, as you can see, the beginning chunk of chapters of this story is going to follow the movie as well as the ninja quest episodes of the show. I hope you guys enjoy what I do with it as a majority of it will be changed, as you can already see. Some of this will be darker as well. Also, Fred, Bailey, Bulk, and Skull have a big part during the chapters that center on the movie, so I hope you enjoy what I have planned with them.

Thanks to _TaitanoRules555, Adela, TerraHart, I love power rangers7135, brankel1, Ashley, heartpunker123, Son of Whitebeard_, and _Rose Specktor_ for reviewing.

~Avalon


	3. Chapter 3: Begin Again

**Chapter 03**

_Begin Again_

* * *

><p>Billy's eyes moved over the Oozemen in front of him. Not only did they appear to be just as bit disgusting as Ivan himself, but he couldn't determine what would be a weakness on the monsters. Rita's putties were just plain weak, though that wasn't saying much as the rangers weren't particularly powerful themselves at the beginning.<p>

But then Zedd's putties had the Z-Plate that would break them apart as soon as they were struck there. He couldn't find anything form a quick look on the putties other than they looked like they meant business.

He called out his findings to the others. "Be careful, guys. It doesn't appear that they have a weakness on their bodies."

"All of these things have a weakness," Tommy reminded him. "We just have to find it." He continued to keep his fists up by his face, ready for when one of the Oozemen would attack. His eyes shifted over the monsters as well, taking in their sunken eyes and sharp claws. "I just wish we knew where."

"Only one way to find out!" Avalon declared. She jumped forward and sent a high roundhouse kick towards the Oozeman that was closest to her. She managed to strike it upside the head and rolled her body into a finishing thrust of her fist into its chest, but it grabbed her hand, raked a clawed hand down her arm and flung her back into the rangers, who all reached out to steady her. "Ow!" She made a tsking sound.

"You'd think by now that'd teach you not to go running into fights," Bailey said to her sister.

"All it does it make me want to fight even more."

"Av! Are you ok?" Adam steadied the orange ranger before she fell. The rangers all studied the orange ranger's arm as she lifted it to inspect it herself. The claws had raked three perfect lines down her arm, drawing a little bit of blood, the skin around it puffy. "That looks nasty."

"Adam! Look out!"

Aisha's cry and her sudden grasp of his arm caused him to turn just in time to have claws raked against the side of his face. He cried out and backed away, holding onto the skin. He could feel blood drip down from the cuts, otherwise he was OK.

"This is going to be harder than we thought," Rocky said. The rangers continued to back away from the Oozemen until they were at edge of the cliff. Rocky stumbled, feeling the ground loosen beneath his heels. "Whoa!" He windmilled his arms to stay upright then found himself falling. Reacting quickly, he pushed himself off in a back flip, landing in a low crouch on the ground a few feet below. Smoothing his hair back from his face, he noticed the space around the construction area. "Guys, there's plenty of space down here to fight those creeps!"

"I'll hold em' off," Tommy declared. "You guys get down there!"

"Be careful, Tommy," Kimberly said to her boyfriend before the other rangers dutifully followed the red ranger down to the open space below.

Tommy turned back to the Oozemen as they all leapt towards him at once. He jumped high and struck a few in the face with a spinning kick before launching into his martial arts routine he had been practicing as long as he could remember. Not only had the Oozemen seemed to fall into his trap with each hit but, they were a lot stronger than he anticipated. When putties were knocked back, they stayed down for a long while. But the Oozemen continued to come back upon him in a matter of seconds. Soon, he found himself overpowered and jumped down off of the cliff to join his friends.

The Oozemen followed after him.

"Spread out," he ordered. "They like to come in really close and attack all at once."

"Right!" Came the unanimous reply as the rangers all scattered to get some room to fight.

Looking over towards a pile of rocks, noticing there was a handle of a shovel sticking out between a few boulders. He grasped it and pulled hard, pulling the handle to of socket and held it in his hands. A couple of Oozemen surrounded him and he waited a moment before striking out. He spun the makeshift shinai around and started to twist it this way and that with his body movements, keeping the Oozemen at a far distance from him. Each swing of the shinai caused him to become vulnerable on one side and Oozemen exploited them, attacking with high jump kicks and rakes of their claws across his body whenever a portion of his body was exposed. Finally, Tommy managed to get the upper hand as his forward momentum of a twist of the shinai caused the end to go through an Oozeman's arm. He then raced forward and did a scissor kick, spinning the Oozeman to the ground.

Adam raced a far enough distance away from his friends, flipping over a bunch of rocks as he went. But a stubborn Oozeman stuck to him like glue, following close behind. He felt claws rake down his back and turned just in time for the Oozeman to hit him across the face with enough force that he spun to the ground. Landing hard on his side, the black ranger looked up in time to see the Oozeman reaching for him once more, mouth open wide to reveal teeth as sharp as the claws. Looking to the side, Adam noticed a bucket on the ground and grasped it firmly between his feet. With a flick of his right foot, he sent the bucket flying up onto the Oozeman's head. Adam flipped back to his feet and rolled over the back of the Oozeman before swiping its feet out from underneath him.

Aisha ran away from an Oozeman and ducked as it leapt towards her, flying overhead. She then turned to the two other Oozemen that followed her and kicked up as hard as she could; catching one of them between the legs. The other Oozeman grabbed onto her arm and she flipped over it, landing in a split on the ground. Move onto her stomach, she rolled her feet over her head, bending her back, until her feet were back on the ground. She aimed back-kick to the Oozeman and turned her attention back to the third one. Grabbing its arm and the arm of another Oozeman she brought her arms together, slamming the two together, and then lifted her foot, placing it onto the chest of one Oozeman. Wincing as she felt the claws of the Oozemen dig into her wrists, Aisha used the momentum to walk up their bodies and do a back flip on the ground, bringing her arms down so that the Oozemen fell onto their backs on the ground.

Kimberly found herself stuck in a circle of Oozemen that crowded around her. She jumped up high, doing a high-split that brought her feet into the face of two Oozemen. She then back flipped out of the way of one that dove towards her and came back by thrusting her palm into the Oozeman's face. She squealed in pain when it turned its head at the exact moment and bit down on her fingers with its sharp teeth. Bringing her leg up, she stretched it as high as she could and kicked the Oozeman in the face before doing a cartwheel and striking another Oozeman that was behind her. She did a series of back flips, bringing her towards another Oozeman and lashed out with a high kick, knocking an Oozeman onto its back.

Rocky did a series of back-flips away from the Oozeman that was behind him before turning back and dropping onto the putty behind him with a strike from his elbow. Rolling aside; the red ranger got to his feet and disgust slid over his face as he lifted his elbow to inspect it. Ooze dripped off of his elbow and onto the floor. He wiped it off and turned back to the Oozeman, sending a series of punches and kicked its way. The Oozeman bobbed and weaved, deflecting each of Rocky's hits, getting a straight kick to the red ranger's stomach. Rocky doubled over and got a kick to the face, snapping his head back. "You're going to pay for that one," he declared, brushing his hair back once more. He spun in a few quick circles to get his momentum going and bent back on his right foot, lashing out with his left and kicking the Ooze so hard in the chest that it flew back a few feet before crashing to the ground.

Billy drove a series of kicks into the chest of an Oozeman before being locked in a heated fight. No matter which way he struck the patrolman of Ivan's he couldn't find the weak spot that would cause its ultimate defeat. Still, he ducked and weaved out of the way as the Oozeman continued to attack him. Finally, he managed to grab onto the arm of the Oozeman and flipped him over onto his back on the ground. _It's worth a shot, _he thought. With a cry, he threw his fist out and struck the Oozeman in the middle of the chest. Instead of the Oozeman breaking apart or turning into a puddle of mush like he expected, Billy was incensed to find that there was a loud squishing sound and ooze exploded against his knuckles. "Huh?" Bringing his hand back to his face, he studied the components of the ooze that dripped off of his knuckles and onto the ground. Chuckling to himself, he shook his head. _Of course these guys would be more advanced than Rita's and Zedd's putties. _"You ooze, you lose," he muttered as a little joke to himself. As soon as the last word was out of his mouth, he was grabbed from behind by an Oozeman and flung to the ground.

Avalon backed up as an Oozeman continuously aimed kicked her way, bringing her head back just in time to keep from getting kicked in the face. She backed up far enough until she stumbled into a worker's bench behind her and fell onto her back. The Oozeman, thinking he had her cornered, started to bring a fist down towards her face. Smirking, the orange ranger crossed her arms in front of her face and pushed back, deflecting the blow. She then lifted her feet and wrapped them around the Oozeman and placed her hands on the workbench right behind her head. With effort, she rolled backwards, bringing the Oozeman with her until they landed on the ground, the Oozeman pinned beneath her. She gave it a strong punch across the face before rolled off it and stomping her foot down towards its chest. The Oozeman grabbed her foot and flung her backwards in a flip where she landed on her feet and twisted backwards, driving its elbow into its stomach and twisting around with her other hand and delivering a crushing blow with her other fist, knocking it to the ground.

Bailey continued to spin in circles, attacked on all sides by the Oozeman that surrounded her. Sucking in a deep breath, she thought back to the martial arts she had learned from Tommy and Jason and executed it upon the Oozemen that sounded her. She lashed out with fists and feet, getting the upper hand at some points, but allowing herself to get attacked back in a few instances. She found herself grabbed by the shoulders and let out a cry of surprise as she was flung forward against the ground. Seconds later, Avalon fell onto the ground next to her on her side. Billy and Kimberly landed beside them after a series of backhand springs to get away from the Oozemen that followed them.

Tommy, Rocky, and Adam joined the group and they huddled together, backing away from the strong monsters as they continued to converge upon the rangers.

"These guys are tougher than I thought," Bailey commented, pushing her glasses up her nose. One of the arms had been bent by a strong attack and barely stung on her face.

"They got us cornered," Aisha said.

"We can't hold em' off," Billy added. "There's too many of em'" The rangers continued to back up until there was no space left for them to go. They all turned to Tommy, who lowered his head, thinking quickly to come up with the best plan of attack.

"Let's do it guys," he finally decided.

"Right!"

"It's morphin' time! Tiger Zord!"

"Ankylosaurus!"

"Stegosaurus!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-tooth tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurs!"

Once morphing, the rangers all fell into a fighting stance, then stopped when they noticed that the Oozemen weren't in front of them anymore. They had gotten away while the rangers had been distracted by their morphing. "Where'd they go?" Kimberly asked.

Noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, Rocky looked towards one of the unfinished buildings on the construction site and watched as the last of the Oozeman hurried inside. "Over there, guys!" He pointed, just in time for the rest of the rangers to notice them as well.

"All right, we're going after them," Tommy said. "Everyone keep your eyes peeled in case it's a trap." The white ranger started towards the abandoned building but was stopped by the purple ranger speaking up.

"Wait!" She called. "These guys are tough and we could hardly defeat them before morphing when we can do that with putties so easily." She shook her head. "I don't know. It seems like it'd be a trap. We clearly don't know what we're up against."

"But we can't let them get away," Aisha protested. "What if they start to wreak havoc on the city or something?"

The purple ranger placed her hand on her chest. "Right now, it's best to see if we can figure out what these guys are capable of, yeah? I'm going to teleport back to the Command Center. Zordon and Alpha know a lot about Ivan Ooze; maybe they can help me figure out a way to defeat these guys. Come up with a plan."

"That's a good idea, Bailey," Billy agreed before turning to the other rangers. "If we can stall them long enough, then we can get a sense of what's going to stop them. I tried looking for weak points but couldn't find anything."

"Got it." Tommy turned to the purple ranger and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You go back to the Command Center; we'll go after the Ooze monsters. Let us know if there's anything you find out."

"Right." Bailey nodded and placed her hands on her power morpher, teleporting back to the Command Center in a streak of bright purple light. The rangers watched them go before heading off into the unfinished building.

It was damp and dark inside. Somewhere water periodically dripped to the floor, echoing around the rangers. They slowly started to walk around, looking for the Oozemen. There weren't many places to hide, however the footmen were still out of sight, waiting to jump out and attack the rangers when they got the chance. However, this time, they weren't alone.

* * *

><p>Bailey landed back at the Command Center and quickly pulled off her helmet. "Zordon, Alpha, we got overpowered by the Oozemen and we need to find a way to get rid of them," she explained. She turned towards the floating head that was her mentor. "You know a lot about Ivan, do you have any ideas?"<p>

"My sensors indicated that you were too late to stopping the egg from stopping Ivan," Zordon said in resignation. "I fear he may already be on his way."

Bailey's lower jaw dropped a she looked up at her mentor before turning to Alpha. She had never seen him appear so defeated before. She moved forward and started to press a series of buttons on the control panel. A tiny door on one of them opened, bringing up a futuristic computer. She started to move through the charts and figures that came up on the screen, detailing those that the rangers were up against. _There has to be something here that can help us._

"Don't worry Bailey, we'll think of something," Alpha said, moving to her side and starting to press buttons as well. "But don't worry; no one can enter the Command Center without a Power Coin." The two continued to work in frenzied silence for a few minutes before the warning klaxon started to go off.

Bailey jumped at the sound and whirled around, watching as a purple slime started to come through the doors of the Command Center. She turned to Alpha and he looked back at her—head tilted to the side in worry—before bringing her hands up. "Ankylo Sickle!" Her newest weapon appeared in her hands and she held it tightly, continuing to watch as the purple slime continued to ooze through the doors. She swallowed thickly, moving a bit closer to Alpha as the seconds passed.

_You can do this, Bay. Your friends are counting on you to help them. _She took another breath and watched as the purple slime came together and Ivan formed out of the puddle. He grinned, eyes light up with an evil fire, as he looked around at the command center. "My, my, not much has changed over the past 6,000 years," he drawled. "Not only are you as insufferable as ever, but you still have your head in the clouds."

"Don't you dare talk about Zordon that way," Bailey snapped eyes on the purple morphological being. "He's done a lot more good for us and anyone that's on his side than you could ever hope of doing."

Ivan turned his gaze towards her just in time for Alpha to come up on his side and send a karate chop into his stomach. Rolling his eyes down towards the animatornic robot, Ivan lifted a hand and zapped a bolt of electricity onto the robot, sending him in a frenzy as little crackles of electricity surrounded him. "Ankylo Sickle!" Bailey called once more. She threw her weapon towards Ivan and he became entangled in the chain that held the weapon to him, digging into his back enough to cause him to groan painfully. "Ankylo Charger!" Her other weapon appeared in her hands and Bailey charged it up before letting out a blast of energy over towards Ivan.

Ivan smirked and held up a hand right before the attack crashed into him.

The charged up attack deflected off his hand and shot back towards the purple ranger with an added boost of electricity of his own power. Bailey was hit in the chest in a direct hit and with a scream of pain and terror, went flying backwards into the wall behind her. She crashed hard against it and bounced to the floor, rolling a bit before coming to a stop, where she demorphed.

"That's what you get for interfering with me," he said. "And for stealing my color." He walked up to Zordon's power tube and stood in front of it. "Is this all you've got? A bunch of teenagers that don't hold a candle against me?" He tilted his head to the side. A candle?" he mused. "That reminds me, when all is said and done I'm going to set fire to this city and watch as it and its people burn to the ground. That'll be a great parting gift."

"You'll never get away with this, Ooze," Zordon rumbled.

"YOU ROBBED ME OF MY PRIME!" Ivan shouted at him with so much ferocity that the room shook. "I was the best thing that had happened to my kingdom! My ectomorphic zords were pure genius and you threw it all away and sealed me up in that god forsaken prison. For years I wanted to come back and show you what I've been made of. You see, I've become stronger now that I've been able to harness my energy and you've made a grave mistake, making an enemy out of me!"

Ivan lifted his hands and screamed loudly, expelling the energy and power from his body, sending shock waves through the Command Center. Ceiling tiles started to fall, computer panels exploded; giant tubes that surrounded the Command Center broke apart and fell. Sparks flew and little fires started all the while Ivan laughed uproarisly and Alpha and Bailey were trapped inside. Finally, one of Ivan's last streaks of energy shot into the Zordon's Power Tube, immediately causing it to implode. The sage warrior that had been stuck in his time warp was attacked along with it, rapidly aging as his body fell amongst the remnants of his tube.

Gasping for air, Zordon turned to look at Ivan, who walked over, standing above him. "Do what you want, Ivan," he wheezed. "But know that the Power Rangers will defeat you."

"You're finished Zordon," Ivan growled in response, smirking with mirth. "No one can stop me. I'm going to be the new ruler of the universe and you'll have to spend the last moments of your life knowing you _failed_."

Ivan took a step back from the broken tube and teleported out of the Command Center.

Zordon closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, saving the little energy he had left.

Scattered around the room, Alpha and Bailey remained unconscious.

* * *

><p>"This place really gives me the creeps, guys," Rocky said as he walked along with the rangers. They had been inside the unfinished building for all of ten minutes and still hadn't found any of the Oozemen they were looking for.<p>

"You're telling me," Kimberly agreed, moving closer to Tommy. "The sure picked a place that was right for them. All damp, dark, and gross. Ugh!" She shuddered. "It's so gross!"

Billy quietly nodded as he walked along side them. "I've got a bad feeling about this place. I'd probably feel better if we had any ideas of where to find these guys." He looked over at Rocky, Adam, and Aisha and the three of them nodded. "Activating Power Scan!" A small satellite slid out of the top of his helmet, much like the horn above a triceratops' nose, where a small satellite appeared on top and circled around.

"Activating Power Beam," Aisha said. The top of her helmet lit up in bright light that illuminated the area ahead of them.

"Activating Power Scope," Rocky said. The front visor of his helmet narrowed with a red light moving back and forth. The inside of his helmet gave him the readings of the life form that were around them.

"Activating Power Tone." Adam's helmet expanded at the sides, technologically advanced speakers poking out, amplifying the sounds of everything around him, but cancelling out white noise and his breathing as well as the breathing of his friends.

There was a moment of silence as the four rangers waited for their helmets to pick up something. Unfortunately, they came up with nothing. Either the Oozemen really were good at hiding, or there was something they were missing.

"Are you picking up anything?" Tommy asked. Before any of the rangers could get a word in, in response, Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina flew out from the shadows and struck the rangers, causing them to crash back to the ground. The Oozemen came out of hiding as well, standing behind the two golden monsters and the monster that was made form bones. "Should've known you guys would be behind this somehow," he growled, getting to his knees.

"The Oozemen are with them," Rocky pointed out.

"Ivan must be working with Rita and Zedd," Billy added. He lowered his head as he thought about the, the small satellite still whirring, now going off with the indications of the monsters in front of him. The Oozemen continued to hold off behind them, waiting for their orders. "Why else would they have suddenly run off? They were waiting for us to have our guards let down."

"And now that they're done, we're going to destroy you!" Rito snarled. He brought a hand up to his eyes and when he lowered them a red beam shot out towards the rangers. They were hit directly by the beam and blasted backwards once more.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out of us this time," Avalon said, struggling to her feet. Her whole body ached, the gash on her forearm throbbing underneath her suit. She clenched her hands into fists. "We can't give up!"

"You ready guys?" Tommy asked.

"Aww, look at them banding together," Scorpina teased. "Looks like it'll be their last." Her eyes flashed as she held onto her bone sword. She and Goldar exchanged glances and leapt towards the rangers with Rito and the Oozemen right behind them.

An ooze man charged at Tommy and before it got within inches of him, Tommy did a roundhouse kick making it fall backwards and hit the ground. He then summoned his sword and raced forward, clashing it against Goldar's. The two were locked in a heated battle, with kicks and slashes of their swords, every now and then; Tommy would duck out of the way and attack an Oozeman that came upon his other side.

"Give it up, white ranger," Goldar declared at one moment they were face to face. Holding tightly onto their swords, the two shook as they fought for dominance. "You can't defeat Rita, Zedd, _and _Ivan. Prepare to fall!"

"Funny, I was about to say the same to you!" Tommy pulled his sword back and crouched low, doing a judo sweep. Goldar's legs came out from underneath him and he crashed to the ground. Raising his sword high above him, Tommy brought it down, but Goldar blocked it before an Oozeman kicked him in the side, knocking him over. With Goldar being free to go after another ranger, three Oozemen flung themselves at Tommy. He reacted quickly by doing a spin kick and knocked two of them off their feet before Tommy sent a powerful kick to the stomach of the three ooze men charged at Tommy. He did a spin kick and knocked two off their feet and converged upon the last one once more. He spun a few times to gain momentum calling, "Have a nice flight," and kicked the Ooze hard enough to send it flying into the wall, immediately being obliterated in the force of the sudden stop.

Another ooze man charged at Kimberly and before it could attack her, she sent powerful kicks to its gut. "You...guys...make...me...sick...sick...sick!" Her voice was filled with disgust as each kick against the Oozeman splattered Ooze against the toe of her boot. She kicked hard once more and the Oozeman flew upwards into the ceiling before crashing to the ground. It staggered, holding onto its front before rolling onto its back. Kimberly noticed that there was a dented area where she had continuously hit it. "Power Bow!" Her weapon appeared in her hand and before she could second guess herself, she brought back the bow and shot an arrow forward and into the Oozeman in the weakened spot. The Oozeman reacted in surprise as the arrow show straight through him, before melting into a puddle of ooze.

Once again, Billy tried to figure out the weak spot on the Oozeman that he was trying to fight. Two more flanked him on his other side and he continuously went around in a circle, doing his best to fend them off. He was suddenly cut off guard by a flying kick from an Oozeman that had barely passed by his face. The blue ranger leaned back at the last second and when he straightened himself, a powerful punch was delivered to the side of his face, spinning him to the ground. He did a kick-up back to his feet and struck an Oozeman directly in the face, knocking it down. He made quick work of the other Oozemen that got close to him, knocking them back far enough that they retreated with him chasing after them.

Aisha and Avalon semi-teamed up as the Oozemen there were fighting kept them in close company with each other. Avalon made use of her parkour skills by bouncing off of the walls and shorter jumps, causing the Oozeman to become frustrated as it tried to fight her. She cart wheeled out of the way of a kick and use her knowledge of street fighting to fight harder. She cupped her hands around the neck of the Oozeman in front of her and brought its head down at the same time she struck up with her knee, hitting him in the face over and over, each blow more vicious than the last. She let go and allowed the Oozeman to stumble back and rolled forward in a somersault, pressing her ankles together and driving up with a strong kick into the Oozeman's face. The kick was strong enough to send the Oozeman flying backwards and crashed into a wall, exploding.

Aisha flipped over an Oozeman, successfully avoiding a kick that was headed towards her face. She then cart wheeled into a series of forward handsprings over towards the Oozeman once more and used the forward momentum to strike upwards with her foot hard enough to send the Oozeman flying into a metal beam, immediately slicing it in half, sending ooze everywhere.

On another side of the unfinished building, the red and black rangers led the Oozemen that followed them off of a platform, giving them enough space to start fighting. They kept their backs to each other as they fought, being able to see the Oozemen on all sides as they approached. Rocky jumped up into the air, doing a split—much like Kimberly had done earlier—and struck two Oozemen in the face. Adam, on Rocky's other side, did a roundhouse kick that sent an Oozeman sprawling to the ground. As he turned back, he suddenly ducked out of the way as Scorpina came rushing towards him, her bone sword held high.

When he moved out f of the way, Scorpina scowled. "You better be ready, Black Ranger!" She snarled. "This time I won't miss!" She threw her sword and it flew towards him, striking him across the chest. His suit ripped open under the bone that ripped through the material and his skin and flew back to Scorpina. She caught the sword and turned it on its side, sensually licking away the blood that dripped down. "Mmm. You taste so good."

Rocky, who had enough, at that point, grabbed Adam's attention. "Double whammy?" He called.

"You're on," Adam nodded back.

The two moved to Scorpina's sides and started to charge the golden female monster. Scorpina scowled as she watched Adam hurry towards her and he couldn't help but wonder once more, if he was really hurting Sabrina. The times that the teenage girl was at school she was the sweetest person on the face of the planet, albeit kind of shy, and the two got along great. But then there was the golden monster that was out of for his blood in his human form as well as when he was a ranger. She was someone that worked hard alongside Rita and Zedd and wanted to face world domination. It hurt him each time they had to fight, but he was doing better to work out his feelings between the two of them as Sabrina and Scorpina were two completely different entities.

_I hope you know I'm still fighting for you, Sabrina, _Adam thought as he and the red ranger got close enough. The two bent back on their stationary legs and sent powerful kicks to Scorpina's head, making her fall to the ground. She scowled and swept her legs towards Rocky, hoping to knock him down, but he deflected her blow and elbowed her in the face. Scorpina howled in pain, backing away from the rangers.

Billy was locked in a heated fight with one of the Oozemen that had chased him earlier. _They seemed to be adapting to our fighting styles, _he thought as time went on. _It keeps getting easier for him to block me. _"Hiya!" Billy threw a punch forward and the Oozeman ducked out of the way, grabbing onto Billy's arm. He spun him around once and flung him off of the platform the two had been standing on. The blue ranger let out a cry as he twisted and turned towards the ground, crashing into a pillar. The blow knocked the wind out of him and turned back towards the Oozeman, looking up at it, trying to catch his breath. "That does it," he murmured. He was starting to get sick and tired of the Oozemen. He held out his hand, ready to get his new weapon. "Stega Stinger," He pushed a button on the side of the weapon and a thin yellow wire shot out of it and wrapped itself around a metal pipe above him.

The rope then retracted, bringing him up into the air and back towards the Platform he had just left. Once back on his feet, Billy grabbed the Oozeman by the arm. "Did you miss me?" He asked tauntingly before smashing the Oozeman on the back, sending him to the ground below where it exploded in a fountain of ooze.

"Pterodactyl thunder whip," Kimberly shouted when she saw an ooze man charging at her. Her Power Bow then disappeared and her newest weapon appeared in her hand. Pressing a button on the side of it a pink whip shot out the end and slammed into the ooze man's chest making it fly off of its feet. "Have a nice trip," Kimberly said as she wrapped the whip around another ooze man's leg and flipped it over onto its back. "See ya next fall," she said as she slashed the whip across another ooze man's chest making it stumble backwards and hit the ground. "Bye bye!" The pink ranger flung the whip at another ooze man's gut knocking it off of its feet. The whip came back into her hand and she grinned down at it, her smile hidden by her helmet.

After throwing an ooze man off of a platform, the orange ranger noticed an Oozeman converging upon her, trying to strike. "Nice try, mate. But not fast enough," She said, and before it could attack her. Avalon jumped off of the platform and sent a powerful corkscrew kick to the Oozeman making it fly backwards into a wall splattering ooze everywhere. She turned just in time to get struck in the face by Rito.

"Now it's my turn to see what you Power Brats are all about!" He cried as the orange ranger was flung to the ground. "But don't be surprised if you wind up skinned alive!" He brought his sword down to her.

"Stega Shield!" Throwing up her hands, Avalon's new weapon, a plated shield, appeared in front of her and she ducked behind it. The force of Rito's sword on top of her shield caused her arms to shake. She pressed up behind him and did a roundhouse kick towards him, causing Rito to move back out of her way. He then took a step forward and slashed wildly with his sword once more. Avalon threw out her free hand. "Stegorang!" Her boomerang appeared in her hand and she threw it as hard as she could. It arched around, heading towards Rito—decapitating a few Oozemen as it went—and blocked Rito's sword, before coming back to her hand.

Avalon moved her sword aside and threw a punch at Rito but another Oozeman leapt out of nowhere and sent a heavy barrage of kicks towards her, causing her to fly back against the wall. Her shield fell from her hand as Avalon crashed into the wall behind her, falling to the floor. She struggled to suck in a breath, the wind knocked out of her. _Dammit. What am I going to do now? _She watched as Rito advanced on her, bringing his word up high above his head.

"Seriously, I thought it was going to be harder than this," Rito complained. "Or more entertaining in some way. I guess I'll start by poking out your eyes and slowly stripping your skin from your bones."

Avalon clenched her hand into a fist, gritting her teeth as fury blazed in her eyes. If only she could catch her breath.

"Hold on Ava!"

The orange ranger looked up time to see Billy swinging down towards her and Rito via the use of the line from his Stega Stinger. When he got close enough, he let go and flew forward, striking Rito on the side of the head with a direct hit form his foot. "Power Lance!" He summoned his power weapon and clashed it against Rito's sword, driving him back until he managed to get a well placed kick to its chest, hitting him hard enough so that Rito fell to the ground.

The blue ranger then hurried back to his best friend, kneeling down by her side. He studied her as she continued to struggle to breathe. "Hey, calm down. Take deep breaths and you'll be OK." He placed his hands on the side of her helmet, forcing her to look at him. "Are you all right?"

Avalon finally sucked in a loud gasp of air, her breathing slowly regulating then nodded. "M'fine, Smurf, thanks." She clenched her hands into fists, turning her attention back to the minions around her. "These guys deserve a harsh reality check, though." Billy held out his hand and she grabbed onto it, allowing herself to get pulled to her feet. "Ready to teach em' a lesson?"

He squeezed his hand around hers. "You got it."

Tommy led Goldar and the Oozemen to the clearing his friends had converged too. It was going to be too difficult if they didn't get at least one of them out of the way. And the Oozemen were going to be it. He moved until he was with his friends and Goldar, Rito, Scorpina, and the Oozemen came upon them once more.

"You're cornered now, rangers!" Goldar waved his sword towards them.

"That's what you think!" Tommy declared. He summoned Saba, spun it a few times in his hand, and hurled it into the air. Saba flew up towards a crate that was being suspended by a crane. A red beam shot out of Saba's eyes and burned through the line, causing the crate to drop, landing on top of the ooze men and purple ooze to splatter everywhere.

"Yeah," the rangers cheered when the ooze men had finally been defeated.

"Don't get excited yet!" Scorpina smirked.

"You still have to deal with us," Goldar added.

"And is it going to be _fun_!"

The rangers watched as a bolt of lightning beamed down from the sky and struck Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina and they grew to a larger size, stories tall, towering over the rangers.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Avalon said.

"You can say that again," Kimberly agreed, shaking her head. "We need the zords."

"Right," Tommy and Rocky agreed, nodding to each other. The rangers flung their hands into the air. "We need Thunderzord power, now!"

"Stegosaurus, Phoenix ,Thunderzord Power!"

"Mastodon, Lion, Thunderzord Power!"

"Pterodactyl, Firebird, Thunderzord Power!"

"Triceratops, Unicorn, Thunderzord Power!"

"Saber tooth Tiger, Gryphon, Thunderzord Power!"

"Tyrannosaurus, Red Dragon, Thunderzord Power!"

"White Tiger, Thunderzord Power!"

The zords came together to form the Thundermegazord and White Tiger Thunderzord and they stood up against the three monsters that stood in front of them. "You guys are finished!" Rito declared. He charged towards the White Tiger Thunderzord first, moving its fist out of the way and striking it across the chest with the sword. He then spun towards the Thundermegazord and did the same. The zord fought back and knocked Rito the ground.

"We got him," Rocky cried.

"Now let's finish him!" Adam added.

The Thundermegazord started towards it once more but was cut off by Scorpina, now in her scorpion form, getting in the way and striking them in the face with her stinger. Goldar then raced up from the other side and started to fight the White Tiger Thunderzord. Scorpina shot a beam of red lightning from her eyes and blasted the Thundermegazord until it fell over.

"Hang on," Billy called. "We're going down."

The Thundermegazord fell over and Goldar and Scorpina took turns stomping on the face of the Thundermegazord, driving it into the ground. Rito lifted his sword high and gathered energy, blasting it into the White Tiger Thunder zord. Tommy struck back by having the jewel on the face of his zord glow bright red and blast back to Rita's brother.

The Thundermegazord got back to its feet and stood next to the White Tiger Thunder Zord before coming back together in front of Scorpina, Goldar, and Rito.

"Guys, I don't know how much more of this we can take," Billy said, frantically reading the panels in front of him. "Not only are we losing energy, but if we siphon it from other places on the zord, we stand the possibility of stripping the thundermegazord of its power banks completely."

"What are we going to do?" Aisha asked. "We can't hold them off."

Tommy was silent for a long time. If they didn't defeat these three, then they wouldn't have a chance of protecting Angel Grove form Ivan Ooze, wherever he was. But on the other hand, they were risking their zords and the Thundermegazord. What choice did they have? Lose the ability to defend them or try their hardest and save as many people as they could. "That's a risk we're going to have to take."

Kimberly gasped. She knew her boyfriend; he was caring, loyal, courageous, resilient, all of the things she absolutely loved about him. But this…risking everything in a chance they weren't sure about? "Tommy."

"We don't have a choice, guys." Tommy reminded them. "We made a deal, a promise to protect Angel Grove and Earth the best we could and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if we didn't try everything."

"I'm with you, Bro," Avalon piped up. "If it weren't for taking risks, if it weren't for you guys teaching me that some of the best decisions to make would be the hardest, then I probably wouldn't be here right now, yeah?" She turned away from her control panel and looked at the array of colored rangers who were also in the cockpit. "We can do this, mates."

The rangers all looked at each other and nodded, turning back to their controls. "I'll try to stabilize the accelerator," Billy said. He hunched over his control panel and started working as hard as he could.

"Bye bye, rangers!" Goldar shouted.

"Let me show you how it's done!" Scorpina crowed and shot another blast of energy at the rangers. Goldar did the same, giving a devastating blow to the front of the zords. Rito followed it up with a combination of three attacks; his charged up sword, an energy ball, and a beam from his eyes.

The blast caught both zords in devastating hits and the zords started to malfunction. As the controls became wild, the zords started to shake back and forth, alarms blaring and beeping. The rangers were ejected out of the cockpits of their zords and sent screaming down to the ground, where they immediately demorphed; electricity starting to surround them.

As the rangers got up, the three monsters disappeared.

"Hey, what's happened?" Kimberly asked, moving her hair off of her forehead. She winced at the nasty gash that was hidden beneath her hairline, fingers slipping over it.

"We…we demorphed," Billy said.

"What does that mean?" Adam murmured.

Their question was answered as there was a loud explosion, the shockwave sending the rangers to the ground. They turned and watched as small explosions ripped about the Thundermegazord and the White Tiger Thunderzord. The zords twitched, shaking back and forth as they tried to regain their footing, trying to stay together.

"No!" Tommy cried.

He watched as the White Tiger Thunder zord started to fall to pieces. First its head rolled off, bouncing along the ground until it came to a stop, head up and looking towards the ranger that used to pilot it. Then the arms fell apart, leaving the torso and legs left. The White Tiger Thunder Zord continued to try to put up a fight, stumbling around. Finally, it fell to its knees and tottered for a long moment, before pitching forward in another explosion.

"No!" Tommy shouted again.

"Our zords," Aisha gasped. Tears sprang to her eyes as she watched the Thunder mega zord.

"There has to be something we can do," Rocky cried.

"We'll think of something," Adam added.

The zords started to fall apart, much like the White Tiger Thunder Zord did, but in a much more gruesome, heart wrenching way. As it fell, the piece of the zords turned back into the rangers' original dinozords. The pterodactyl zord cried as its wings fell apart, the triceratops zord screamed as its horns fell off, and the Saber-Tooth Tiger zord screeched as its fangs fell apart. The tusks of the Mastodon fell, the arms and tail of the Tyrannosaurus littered the ground amongst the plates of orange metal that fell off the back of the Stegosaurus zord as it fell to its knees.

"STEGGY!" Avalon screamed, watching as her zord fell.

There was another explosion that knocked the rangers back. Tommy twisted around and grabbed onto Kimberly and Avalon, covering their heads as the explosions continued. Rocky brought Aisha into his arms and held onto her, protecting her from the intense heart. Adam and Billy covered their faces with their arms as there was another blast.

Kimberly turned her head and watched as the zords continued to erupt. _No. This can't be happening. _The zords…they had been with them as long as she had been a ranger. She could feel the pterodactyl zord crying out for her, crying out for her mistress to help. She could hear all of the zords crying out for the rangers, hoping that in some way they could be saved as the zords had saved them on many occasions.

But it was futile.

The rangers could feel the terror and pain that their zords went through as the zords continued to explode. _I can't let this happen. _Kimberly wiggled out from underneath Tommy's arm and started to run towards the zords.

"Kimberly!" Billy noticed her movement and ran after her, tackling her to the ground. He cradled his body against hers, ducking his head as there was a final explosion.

"NO!" The scream erupted form Kimberly's throat as long as her vocal chords would allow it, her throat becoming raw, burning with the fire of her passion, her want to save their zords. But it was too late. The explosions died down and when the dust cleared, their zords were left lying on the ground in pieces.

The rangers slowly got to their feet, walking around to their zords. Silently they went to their respective zords, gently touching the metal of their once lively friends. Billy frowned as he kneeled down next to the triceratops zord. Not even months before he had been given a lesson by Avalon, saying that the rangers were connected to their zords in a lot of different ways other than just controlling them. They were a part of each other.

_Billy turned back to the Triceratops zord and reached for it, but it pulled its head back out of the way. Frowning, the blue ranger reached for the zord once more but the zord made a grunting sound and backed away._

_"He's saying that he knows you're upset and thinks you're done working on him," Avalon supplied. _

_Looking at her as if he was crazy, Billy crossed his arms over his bare chest. His shirt had gotten covered in grease from working on the first zord and he hadn't wanted to wreck it any further. Besides, the funeral was over, what did it matter what he looked like? "How do you know that?"_

_The orange ranger pointed up at the zord. "He just said so."_

_"I didn't hear him say that."_

_"Because, Smurf, you weren't listening." She took a step closer to him, tilting her head towards the zord. "All of us rangers have a bond with each of our zords; you and Kim have had yours longer than me, Tommy, Bay, Rocky, Adam, or Aisha, but its there. You just haven't been listening lately, though I can understand that." She reached out and ran her hand along the side of the Triceratops._

And now it was too late.

"They're…" Aisha licked her lips, swallowing thickly, trying to find her voice. "They're completely destroyed." Adam, hearing the anguish in her voice reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. The yellow ranger didn't seem to notice it, her eyes directed over to her prone zord.

"We need to get back to the Command Center," Kimberly whispered. "Maybe Alpha and Zordon can find a way to fix them."

Billy shook his head. "It's not that simple," he said. "There's…there's so much work to be put in to try and figure out a way to get them functioning back to their normal capacity. There's…there's just no way."

"Don't say that!" Avalon snapped at her, eyes ablaze with fury. "Don't fucking say that! Our zords have been with us as long as we've been rangers and they've always managed to protect us when we needed them. Now we have to do the same for them." Her dark eyes moved over the zord, her face a mask of fury. "We're going to fix them and we're going to make sure that those guys and Ivan get what they deserve."

"Look." Rocky stepped over to the orange ranger and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking down at her in concern. "This…all of this is a shock to us, but we can't go charging in without a plan…without zords. We need to get back to the Command Center and regroup."

"Right." Billy looked away from the orange ranger and brought his communicator up to his mouth. "Alpha, come in." There was nothing but static. "Zordon?" He tried again. Still, there was no answer. "Bailey? Bay, come in?" When he didn't get an answer for the third time, he looked at the others.

Avalon instantly went white

"What's going on?" Kimberly asked again.

"Something must've gone wrong," Adam said.

"I don't like this." All of the pain and anger the orange ranger had been feeling before was instantly replaced with the utmost concern for her sister. Tommy felt the same way. Reaching out beside him, he put his hand in Kimberly's squeezing it firmly, making sure she was still there. In front of him was the orange ranger, nearly on the verge of hyperventilating. The only person he couldn't see was who was to become his youngest sister, and she wasn't answering the communicator. _But you have to be strong for everyone else. _"We'd better get back," Tommy told his friends. "Let's go guys."

"Right," the other rangers said as they followed their leader back to the Command Center.

* * *

><p>The rangers arrived at the Command Center and found that the doors to the inner chamber were covered in ooze. Exchanging a quick glance, Billy and Tommy reached out and grabbed onto the doors, forcing it open. The slight scent of smoke filled Billy's nose just before the doors opened all the way and revealed the devastating sight.<p>

Even Kimberly couldn't hold in a shriek of surprise. First their zords then the place that had been their headquarters this whole time? There was no way this was happening. It was like a nightmare, a nightmare coming true.

"I don't believe this," she breathed as the rangers slowly walked inside, taking stock of the devastation.

"Look at this place," Tommy said.

"I can't believe it," Adam murmured.

"What happened here?" Aisha asked.

"Bailey?" Billy called, eyes moving around for the youngest ranger and his ally in the Command Center.

Avalon took up the call. "Bay! Where are you?"

There was a slight coughing sound and then a weak, "Over here," sounded from the far end of the Command Center. The rangers hurried over and followed the sound, just as Bailey was stumbling around from the back of the circle that used to be Zordon's tube. Avalon hurried over and encased the purple ranger in a tight hug as the other rangers took in what was left of Zordon's tube.

Kimberly gasped once more when she spotted the withering, gray form in the middle of the broken glass, resting on top of the crystal. "Zordon!" Adam cried.

"What's happening to him?" Aisha asked, looking over the form that used to be their mentor.

Billy gaped down at the being. He knew exactly what was happening but it still took him a moment to register it. "He…he's out of his time warp." He choked on the next words. "He's dying." Bailey whimpered, looking down at their mentor.

The sound of the rangers' voices grabbed Zordon's attention and he looked at them, managing the tiniest of smiles. "Thank goodness you're safe, Rangers." He closed his eyes as pain wracked through his body. "I feared that Ivan and his minions…they had defeated you…just like Ivan's defeated me."

"No." Rocky shook his head. His hands grasped tightly against the materials in front of him. "No. Everything's OK, Zordon. We'll…we'll get you back inside your tube, everything's going to be OK." He shook his head again, voice quaking. "You're not going to leave us."

"Rangers, the zords, the power, the weapons…they've all been destroyed," Zordon continued. "The Power Rangers are no more. Be strong, rangers."

There was the sound of metal scraping against metal behind them and the rangers turned and spotted Alpha pulling himself up. Bailey backed away from her sister and looked up at her before hurrying over to the animatronic robot, the other rangers behind her. She grabbed onto Alpha and helped him up, giving him a hug as she did so. "Alpha, you're alright," she said to him, her accent thick with unshed tears. "But Zordon…I'm sorry, mate." Tears fell silently down her cheeks. "I tried to keep Ivan from attacking him…I just couldn't…"

"You did your best, Bailey." Alpha gently patted his friend on the back. "That's all I could've asked for." He then addressed the rest of the rangers, "There may be a power that can save Zordon. It'll be difficult, but…I think you are the ones that can find it."

"What power?" Tommy immediately leapt on Alpha's closing words. They weren't going to give up, not on Zordon's behalf, not on their zords' behalf.

"There is a distant planet…named Phaedos," Alpha explained. "It is rumored that the great power is there. But it is very dangerous. You won't have much time; Zordon's power won't last long. And…you'll have to take something with you." He turned to Bailey and nodded.

Bailey nodded back and hurried over towards the side of the Command Center. She took a deep breath and laid her hand on the wall, the panel opened and she disappeared inside, coming back with the Azurite Healiodore. It glowed in her hands as she walked over to the rangers.

"The Healiodore?" Billy repeated. He looked over at Alpha for confirmation.

"Yes," he said. "The Azurite Healiodore is from the planet of Phaedos. It took a long time…but Zordon and I had managed to run enough scans to pinpoint its origins. I believe it may be connected to the power that can be found there."

"But what if it's not there?" Aisha lowered her gaze once the question was out of her mouth. After everything…she was already starting to question it when they should've been going straight for positivity and hope in adversary.

"We just have to believe it's there," Kimberly spoke up. The pink ranger crossed her arms, hugging herself. "We need to believe it for Zordon, for Angel Grove, and for the Earth."

"Here's a map." Alpha held out his hand and a map appeared in his hands. He turned and handed it towards Zordon. "This is a map of the Desert of Despair. You'll have to get through that to find the power. There is someone you will meet there that will help you on your quest. Be sure to keep it safe with the Healiodore." He looked meaningfully at the rangers. "But without your powers, I'm afraid…"

"Don't worry, Alpha." Bailey hugged the robot. "We're afraid too."

Alpha nodded. "I'll be able to pull up the coordinates of Phaedos and teleport you there due to the transport core, but there isn't enough power to bring you back, I'm afraid."

Rocky nodded along with the others. He tightened his hand, looking down at the shard of Zordon's tube he had grabbed onto. He turned away from the rangers, turning his back to him. Glancing over at Zordon and at the destruction of the Command Center, the red ranger felt nothing but heaviness in his heart.

A painful heaviness.

Taking in a deep breath, he picked up the shard and pressed it to his left wrist, carefully dragging the shard down, until blood seeped from the cut and rolled down into his elbow. He did the motion twice before he relaxed, the pain washing away. Turning back to his friends, he dropped the shard into his pocket. Just in case he needed it again.

"Are you ready?" Alpha asked the rangers.

"Yeah." Tommy motioned to the rangers and they started to move into a position where they would have space to teleport. He noticed that the purple ranger didn't move with them. "Bay?"

The purple ranger glanced over at Zordon, taking a deep breath. "I was the last line of defense of Zordon and Alpha when Ivan came through and I couldn't stop him," she explained. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left and something else happened." She held her chin up high. "I'm going to stay here and help Alpha, maybe there's something we can do down here. But this time…I won't fail."

Avalon glanced at her sister with a sense of newfound respect. Though knowing that even when her sister turned twenty-five and was living on her own, she'd still worry about her. But she wasn't worried now. Bailey could take care of herself and she knew that her little sister could do it. Giving her a small smile, the orange ranger nodded.

Bailey nodded back and walked forward, pressing the Azurite Healiodore into Kimberly's hands then turned to her sister. "Stay safe, Goober."

The corner of Avalon's lips lifted upwards. "You too, Booger."

Bailey smiled and stepped back, nodding.

Tommy nodded at her as well. "We may not have our powers," he said. "But we're still the power rangers." With that, the rangers then moved into position in a circle. Tommy, Kimberly, Adam, Rocky, Aisha, Billy, and Avalon all stood in the circle then slowly raised their hands, pressing their palms against each other.

Alpha turned back to the control panel beside him. "Remember, Zordon doesn't have much time. I believe in you."

He pressed a few buttons on the control panel and after flickering for a few moments, the rangers finally turned into streaks of their respective colors and teleported from the Command Center.

It had used up some of the last of the power of the Command Center, lights shutting off as soon as they left. Bailey gasped and looked over towards Zordon, squinting in the dim light. He still appeared to be breathing.

"Oh no," Alpha said quietly, bringing his hands up to his face. "Ay yi yi yi yi." The purple ranger walked over to the robot and gently grabbed his arm, directing him over to his friend. The two slowly walked over to sit vigil at his side.

"Please hold on, Zordon," Alpha called to his fallen friend.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, what'd you think? I actually got a bit emotional while writing this chapter, but I think it turned out pretty well. The Azurite Healiodore is finally coming back into play and I'm thanking _heartpunker123 _for the idea with it. I'm also thanking _XoxMountainGirlXox _for the idea of what Rocky is going through as well.

I should have the first chapter to the Billy centered story up next week, but don't quote me on that because things come up pretty quickly at the end of the semester, haha. Oh and I'd like to thank _XoxMountainGirlXox _for giving me the idea for the Billy story and working how it fits into the Avalon series storyline.

Thanks to I _love power rangers7135, heartpunker123, Adela, TaitanoRules555, Brankel1, TerraHart, Ashley, and ZoeyBoey224_ for reviewing.

~Avalon


	4. Chapter 4: Changing Leadership

**Chapter 04**

_Changing Leadership_

* * *

><p>"Yes, now that we have the rangers out of the way, we can go on to destroy the rest of the earth," Zedd crowed with glee. He spun his z-staff in his hand, using the other to tap himself on the chin. "Now how to do it? Going with the approach of blowing everything up unless they agree to fall under our control seems to be a bit forthcoming."<p>

"I say show them that we mean business," Rita pointed out. She turned towards a tiny meteor that passed by the Lunar Palace and lifted her magic wand. A bolt of energy shot out and crashed into the meteor, immediately causing it to implode. "That sounds good to me!" She turned to face Zedd as well. "You said that you wanted to furnish the rest of the Lunar Palace, why not go down to Earth now and get some captives? We can get Rito to skin them alive for us; he probably needs the practice anyway."

"No, after the work he, Goldar, and Scorpina did against the rangers, they deserve some time off," Zedd said. He put down his Z-Sceptar and started to stretch his arms. "I can do the skinning all by myself." He laughed evilly, only turning when he heard the doors at the back of the palace opened and Ivan walked in followed by Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito, who were all grinning ear from ear.

Ivan was the only one that wasn't congratulating himself. Instead, he held out his arms and smiled at Rita and Zedd before proclaiming, "Honey, I'm home." He then lowered his arms and crossed the threshold. "Sorry, Zedd, I keep forgetting she's your wife," he remarked. "Might want to hold onto her, someone might mistake her for one of your concubines."

Zedd growled, his body starting to light up. "I think you're forgetting that you let the rangers go!" He pointed the scepter towards the man. "You may have destroyed their powers, but now who knows what else they're going to do!"

"Clearly you have no faith in your partner," Ivan commented, not disturbed by Zedd's words in the slightest. In fact, he appeared bored. The whole thing was boring, he noted to himself. Making work of the rangers was just too easy, after all those years Zordon should've been able to come up with something that could stand up to him. And yet, it was no wonder Rita and Zedd were continuously defeated so easily. They were as weak as a newborn babe. They didn't know real power. "Your feebleness is staggering."

Stretching his arms over his head, Ivan slowly walked over towards Rita and Zedd with a sort of swagger in his step, a sense that he was powerful and definitely knew it. "You obviously don't know destruction when you see it," he remarked. He came to a stop in front of Zedd and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll take over command from here."

"You dare betray me?!" Zedd growled. "You wouldn't be here if it weren't for us."

"And don't think I'm not grateful. I was waiting for the day that an incompetent imbecile would open my egg and free me!" Ivan slowly started to laugh, a raspy, gloating laugh causing Zedd to increase in brightness as the seconds passed.

"NO ONE DOUBLE CROSSES LORD ZEDD AND LIVES!" Zedd roared and shot a beam of electricity over towards Ivan. It struck the purple monster but didn't appear to have any effect. Instead, the morphological being continued to laugh as the electricity coursed through his body and lifted his hand, shooting his own electricity back towards Rita and Zedd.

With loud screams of fury and pain, Rita and Zedd fell to the ground, cringing and thrashing. Scorpina gasped in surprise, hand moving to cover her mouth. Her eyes widened as she watched her fallen Master and Mistress continue to be exhibited with the powers of destruction that Ivan had used on the Command Center. Zedd, having dropped his z-scepter, reached out for it, to try and block the attack and protect himself and his wife, but Ivan kicked it away, continuing to hold the energy over the prince of darkness and evil space with.

"Hey! You can't hurt my sister like that!" Rito declared with a deep, guttural yell from within his chest. He brought a hand up to his eyes and shot out a beam of red energy towards Ivan. However, Ivan raised his free hand and deflected the attack onto Rita and Zedd, causing them to scream even more.

Goldar watched the exchange in stunned silence. Zedd, rule of the Galaxies and the Prince of Darkness was being defeated so easily it was as if Ivan hadn't even used the power within that reverberated from his pinkie toe. He picked up his sword, ready to attack Ivan, but Scorpina's hand on his arm stopped him. "Scorpina?" He turned to face her.

The female golden monster's eyes were filled with the sort of darkness and evilness that Goldar had never seen before. Her eyes were dark, empty pools of nothingness and pure evil. "Don't, Goldar," she whispered to hi in a slow, sensual one. "This is exactly what we've been waiting for. With Rita and Zedd out of the way, we can follow Ivan until we find his weak point, and then take over the Lunar Palace ourselves." She tightened her hand on him, fingernails digging into his wrist like stingers from a scorpion. "Remember Sagittaria…he was in our way. They're _all _in our way and we're not going to succeed if they don't take themselves out. It'll be easy work for us."

Goldar wrenched his hand out of Scorpina's grasp. Everything she had said before had made sense, but would it work in the long run? Was she just setting himself up to fail? He couldn't trust her as much as she could trust him, he was well aware of that. But speaking out now wasn't going to help either of them in the long run.

Ivan sighed as he continued to watch Rita and Zedd squirm. It had been so amusing to him before and now it was just getting pointless. He brought both of his hands together and zapped another wave of electrical energy towards them. There was a miniature explosion and when the dust settled, Rita and Zedd were out of his sight.

"Where'd they go?" Rito turned to Ivan, raising his sword high above his head. "If you—"

"Relax, Bonesie, I just sent them down to the dungeons with the rest of their captives," Ivan said. He gave an indolent wave of his hand, ambling over to Zedd's throne and perched himself upon it. The perfect view of Earth. "I'll bring them out to play again when I'm bored." He lifted a finger and pointed towards the three minions left under his control. "You can join them too, if you'd like."

Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina all stayed silent. The shift of power had been drawn in the sand. Ivan was in control now and if they crossed him, there was an exceptionally good chance they would end up destroyed quicker than they could take a breath to make a noise of protest.

Satisfied with the silence, Ivan stretched his arms out and rested them on the arms of the chair. "Nice place they have here, a perfect way for me to watch my destruction of Earth and the rest of the Galaxy. Now…what to do about the rangers looking for that great power."

"The great power?" Scorpina repeated her voice sounding higher pitched suddenly. Maybe it was pleading, Ivan couldn't tell. There was something off about her, he could sense it. "We just destroyed their powers."

"There's a great power lurking on the planet Phaedos that could bring the rangers more powers that could ultimately destroy us all," Ivan hissed, his voice lowering to a horrific tone. "We need to stop them before it's too late." His eyes narrowed as he watched Scorpina twitch and start to whimper, bringing her hands up to her head. "What is she doing?"

"She's part human, your liege," Goldar said simply, quickly moving to become the monster's footman. "The human side of her is well acquainted with the rangers and even has a bit of a relationship forming with the black ranger. We could use her to lure the rangers out once more, just like when Rita and Zedd had used a parent of the blue ranger to emotionally hurt him."

"And how'd that turn out?"

"We managed to turn the blue ranger evil but the rangers turned him back to normal."

Ivan tapped the side of his neck. _It has some merits, _he realized. _Using the parents of the rangers, causing great psychological damage. It's genius! _Ivan slowly sat up straight, eyes lighting up with an evil fire as he started to laugh to himself. "Instead of using the parents of the rangers, we'll use the parents of Earth!" He declared. "They're going to dig up my ectomorphicons and when they're done, I'll instruct the ectomorphicons to kill them anyway they please!"

"Sounds like a plan to me, boss!" Goldar agreed.

Rito grumbled but didn't say anything otherwise.

Scorpina continued to whimper, falling to her knees as she held onto her head. There were flashes of light and her whimpers turned to screams as her body switched back and forth from control of Scorpina to Sabrina and back again. As the seconds passed, Scorpina started to lose her hold.

Ivan rolled his eyes. "Oh, the theatrics!" He lifted a hand and blasted electricity over towards her. When the light faded, Scorpina and Sabrina both sat on the ground. Sabrina sucked in a deep breath and started to tremble, lifting her head and looking up towards the monsters that sat in front of her. Then she turned her head to the side and regarded Scorpina, shaking harder. "Get this wench out of my sight!" He instructed Goldar.

The gold monster nodded and grabbed Sabrina by the arm, lifting her to her feet and walking her out of the lair.

"Now that we have that out of the way, I need to be sure the rangers don't make it to the power." He cracked his knuckles and sucked back hard, allowing phlegm to gather in his throat. When the glob of mucus was big enough he leaned forward as he spit, shooting the phlegm onto the ground. Much like his Oozemen, the ooze started to puddle, stretching out until there were large birdlike creatures flapping and jumping in front of him. "Ah, my Tengu warriors," Ivan said lovingly. Crossing his legs, he placed his hands on his knees. "Go to Phaedos. Find the power rangers and make sure they don't make it to the power. Tear them apart! Peck their eyes out. Drop them off cliffs. Eat their gizzards! I don't care as long as they don't make it there or back _alive_!"

"You got it, boss!" The biggest Tengu warrior said before flapping his arms.

The other Tengu followed its lead and after gaining some momentum they turned and flew out of the Lunar Palace.

Now all he had to do was wait.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Bailey had left the house as quickly as possible, hoping that David wouldn't wake up and question where she was going. Not that it'd really be that difficult to get out; David hadn't really been there lately. The constant cloud hanging over the house and following them around. Billy had managed to grow from it…but David had lost his wife and still seemed to be walking in a daze.<p>

That wasn't important at the moment, what was important was finding a way to keep Ivan Ooze from getting stronger than he already was. He had found a way to defeat the rangers, to deplete all of their powers and now Angel Grove was vulnerable to whatever attacks that would come their way. She needed some time to think, to see what was going on now that the rangers had left to find the new power.

But what could she do to save Zordon if she didn't have powers herself? She stayed at the Command Center as long as she could to try and find a way to restore power to the Command Center and all she could do was make it so that the Viewing Globe was able to come back online. Everything else had been dead silent, and that was eerie. Not only was the Command Center normally always functioning, but it was always making some sort of noise. The zords were usually making sounds as they played with each other, Alpha was tinkering with some sort of upgrade to the Command Center, she and Billy were working on a new invention.

Something was _always _going on and it was eerie, downright terrifying now that there was no sound other that her breath, Alpha's footsteps, and Zordon's raspy breathing that filled the air. She couldn't stand being there any longer.

As the purple ranger left her house and headed into the city, she ran through a bunch of scenarios in her head, to try and figure out what to do to help. She needed to find a way to keep Zordon stabilized, Alpha was working on that now, but there had to be something that could be done on Earth in Angel Grove. Ivan, Rita, and Zedd were going to do something that would bring the utmost terror and destruction to the city now that they were abandoned, she knew that for sure.

_But who can help me? _After wandering around for about twenty minutes, Bailey found herself at the Youth Center. She laughed quietly to herself. It was funny how the one place of comfort that she could think of was going to the Youth Center. She, her sister, and their friends always went there to hang out and she, in a way, hoped they would be there waiting for her with bright smiles and laughter. Maybe her greatest nightmare wouldn't have come true.

But as she sat down at the counter, ready to ask the man behind the bar for a drink—she noticed that Ernie wasn't there that day—her attention was brought over to the tiny television that sat in the corner. It was broadcasting from the construction site and she could see Ivan's egg in the background. Leaning forward, she turned up the volume of the television.

"And we're reporting from the construction site where the new Concord law firm was being built were a giant _egg _has suddenly appeared overnight. We have no idea where the egg has come from but judging by the excavation area around it, it appears to have been hundreds of feet underground. Archeologists that have come to the scene haven't found specific clues that would give us a certain timeframe of when this egg had been put down there though it is implied that the monster attack last night may have something to do with it. There are no eyewitnesses to the excavation and opening of the egg and while police are questioning those that have been near the area, the Angel Grove Police Department are blocking off the construction site and are forbidding anyone from coming near it in fear of contaminating the scene."

_That's it! _Bailey immediately leapt to her feet as soon as the broadcast was over and hurried out of the Youth Center. All she had to do was go down to the construction site, get a sample of Ivan's Ooze if there was any left there or from the Oozeman and work from there. Then she could get the material properties and work from there, to figure out if there was a way to reverse Ivan's magic and destruction of the Command Center. _Maybe this'll be the thing that'll help Zordon! _Once she was outside of the Youth Center she brought her communicator up and pressed a button on the side, waiting for that familiar prickling, tingly feeling of teleporting.

She slapped her hands over her face, remember what had happened. "Oh, come on!" She cried before starting to run down the street. "Its times like these I forget how bloody helpful teleporting is," she said to herself.

Finally arriving at the construction site, the purple ranger quickly ducked underneath police tape and hid behind a rock. There were more people milling around than she originally thought there would be. Breathing quietly, hoping not to be found, she stealthily crouched around boulders and large rocks, slowly moving closer to the egg that Ivan had been in. Finally, when the coast was clear, she hurried over and looked down into the chamber. There was still a bit of ooze left at the bottom of the egg, now if only she could get it—

"Hey!"

A hand roughly grabbed onto her arm and she was roughly pulled to her feet. An older man with a graying mustache glared at her, grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her. "What are you doing here?" He demanded. "How did you get past the police tape?"

"I-I'm just looking," Bailey stammered, eyes wide. "I just wanted to see what was—"

"You're contaminating the scene! Messing up the evidence." He let go of her arm and pulled a walkie-talkie out of his belt. "This place is dangerous and kids like you shouldn't be trespassing here! I have the right mind to call the—"

"Sergeant," a familiar voice sounded behind her. "We'll take it from here." The Sergeant and Bailey turned and spotted Bulk and Skull standing behind them, dressed in their police uniforms, hands resting on the tops of their belts. Bailey smiled at them gratefully and waited as the Sergeant looked them over before letting her go. The three waited until she walked away before Skull took her arm and walked her a few feet away.

"Bailey, what are you doing here?" He asked her. "The Sarge is right, it's too dangerous."

"For me or for the citizens of Angel Grove?" She replied. Bulk and Skull exchanged a glance. "I need your blokes' help," she said to them. "That egg released a hideous, disastrous monster that's going to destroy the world, Ivan Ooze." She gestured over towards the egg.

"Was that the cause of the fight last night?" Bulk asked. He lowered his voice before leaning towards her. "We saw the zords go down…found some scraps of their metal around the place. What happened out there?"

Taking a deep breath, Bailey steeled her voice. "It was bad," she admitted. "He was a lot stronger than we originally thought. He…he destroyed our zords, our powers are _gone_." She knew the words had the impact she thought it would for she felt herself choking up once more, as well as seeing Bulk and Skull's eyes widen. "Angel Grove and the rest of the Earth…it's in danger unless we can find a way to get rid of him and that's what I need the egg for, yeah? There's still ooze inside and if I can get a sample of that ooze, then I can find a way to find out how to defeat him while the others get us our powers back."

Bulk cleared his throat. "What do you need us to do? There are too many people around right now."

"If you get chance, get a sample for me, or find _something _that you think will help." Bailey clasped her hands together. "I need your guys' help, guys. You can really help us save Angel Grove."

Skull's jaw clenched in an expression of straight seriousness. Everything up until then had been child's play in comparison to what the rangers did each and every day. They protected and saved as many people as they could over the years and in the times they hadn't succeeded, they still did their best. Having gone into the police academy and hoping to graduate from it soon, he understood the duty they had to protect and serve Angel Grove. They made the promise to do what they could once they were accepted under the guide of Lt. Stone and they weren't going to let anyone done.

"Leave it to us," he said to her. "We'll get that sample for you." He nodded over and Bulk and the two showed the purple ranger to the exit of the construction site before going back to their jobs. Bailey watched them leave, her heart pumping a mile a minute.

"Bonzer!" Bailey whispered.

Now that she was going to get a sample, she had to figure out what to do when it came to defending the city. _A police force wont' do much unless there are putties and Oozemen around. If there's a large scale attack, we wouldn't be able to do much but hide. _

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Fred calling her until he grabbed a hold of her arm and turned her around. Stumbling, Bailey caught her balance before scowling at him. She had been grabbed a lot that day and she wasn't going to allow it to happen anymore. "What?" She snapped at him.

Fred dropped his arm, surprised. "Sorry," he apologized to her. "I was calling your name; I guess you didn't hear me." He scratched the back of his head as silence stretched between the two of them.

"Did you want something?" Bailey pressed.

"Yeah." Now Fred looked confused if not a little hurt. "Where'd you go yesterday? We were hanging out at the carnival and everything and all of a sudden you disappeared. Dad and I waited for a long time but you never came back. Did something happen?"

_Yeah, something happened all right. But it's not like you'd understand. _Instead of saying that, Bailey just shrugged. "No, nothing happened. I just wasn't feeling well so I went home." She looked over her shoulder. "Actually, I'm still not feeling well so I'm just going to—"

"Did I do something wrong?" Fred asked. "Because…all you do now, whenever we hang out is make some sort of excuse to leave!" He frowned as Bailey looked back at him as innocently as she could. His brow furrowed together in an expression of extreme distaste. "If you don't want to hang out with me just say so."

"It's not that, I'm just…really busy."

"How busy can you be?"

"I have a lot of work to do. Not only my own school work but I have things that I'm studying, trying to invent. I'm talking to my Mom as often as I can and with the time difference I can't miss that. It's not you, Fred. I'm just…I'm just really busy."

"I don't believe that."

Uttering a cry of annoyance, Bailey turned on her heel and started to stomp down the road. She swung her arms haphazardly as she went. "You can believe what you want, Fred. But I have somewhere I need to be, yeah?"

Fred followed her, matching her stride until he was walking along with her at the same pace. "There's something you're hiding. Why won't you talk to me?" When the purple ranger didn't reply he stepped in her path and held out a hand. He didn't grab her that time. That was good. Or else he would've received a punch to the face at that point.

"Because!" Bailey spat, moving to step around him. She glared when Fred blocked her way and grabbed onto her shoulders.

"Because _why_?"

Bailey squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that she was either going to be making a great decision or a grave mistake. But as time passed by, nothing was more important than getting Zordon back to normal, even if that meant giving up her own powers. "Because, Fred….because I'm a power ranger!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Thanks to _TaitanoRules555, Rose Specktor, heartpunker123, I love power rangers7135, XoxMountainGirlxoX, TerraHart, Adela, Ashley, and brankel1_ for reviewing.


	5. Chapter 5: Ready When You Are

**Chapter 05**

_Ready When You Are  
><em>

* * *

><p>The destruction of the Zords had been felt all around the world. Not only had it been a great blow for the current rangers to deal with, but it had managed to stretch itself further than originally anticipated.<p>

In Vietnam Trini had been ripped out of her peaceful slumber by something so painful she let out a startled gasp. Had something hit her? Had she been bitten by something? Trini leaned over and turned on the lamp that rested on her bedside table and pulled herself up into a sitting position. Pulling back her covers she ran her hands up and down her legs. No, there was nothing that had bitten her; but then again, she had become so used to the mosquitoes that finding bites she didn't remember having wasn't uncommon. No, this was something else, something deep within her heart.

Bringing her hand up to her chest she could feel it, she could feel the Sabertooth Tiger within her crying out for her, for its original owner. It was…dying. The realization hit Trini like a ton of bricks. She had always been able to read people's auras, to sense things about people others couldn't, so she had the closest bond with her zord, having been able to feel its soul within the first few times of having gotten inside the cockpit. And now…she could feel her soul and the one of the Sabertooth Tiger merging once more as it lost its physical body.

Within the confines of his uncle's house, Jason halted mid-sit up as he felt something akin to blinding pain move through his body. He had never felt pain like that before, not even the times he had badly sprained himself, had been beaten up in a martial arts tournament, or even managed to break his arm the one time when he was six years old. Nothing could compare to the pain of a ranger losing their zord. He could hear it, in his head, the Tyrannosaurus zord crying out for him. Instead of the majestic, horror inducing cry that a tyrannosaurus could bring, he heard sadness and fear in the cry of the tyrannosaurs zord. Jason slowly lowered his hands from around his ears and pressed them against the floor. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head forward and silently mourned the loss of a friend.

Zack had been practicing his dance moves when he heard the cry of the Mastodon. Anything that would distract him from the way he had been run out of Angel Grove, to the way he was currently living and dancing did that. While his father still wasn't completely over the idea of Zack playing football, which he would be starting at his new school the next week, but he couldn't rip dancing out of him. Just like the Mastodon couldn't be ripped out of him. The Mastodon had protected him and the rest of Angel Grove for the years he had put into being a ranger and rather than thinking of it as a Zord or a pet, he thought of him as a friend. And it hurt like losing a friend, the sudden pain, the sound of the cry causing Zack to immediately stop the pirouette he had been going through. As if not sure he had heard the cry, he lowered his headphones from his ears and listened hard. There it was again, the weak cry of the Mastodon and despite not having been connected to the zord in a long time; Zack knew it was saying goodbye. With a small smile, Zack lifted his headphones back over his ears and started dancing again, this time for his friend.

And despite the three not having their powers anymore and being separated by miles, they then knew there was truth to the claim; once a ranger, always a ranger.

* * *

><p>"You're a Power Ranger?" Fred repeated, with a flat tone to his voice.<p>

Nothing that showed surprise or excitement registered on his face. In fact, his facial expression hadn't changed. It was like a brick wall; Bailey wasn't getting much of an idea of what he was thinking. It was unnerving a bit, compared to the bright mile and sense of outwardly excitement he usually executed, much like a teenage boy usually would.

"I was," Bailey admitted. "As of late my powers have become obsolete. That monster fight…" she trailed off and Fred nodded, patiently waiting for her to continue. "It was against an intergalactic being called Ivan Ooze. He's stronger…much stronger than anyone we've ever come up against. It was him, Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina…they all attacked us and our zords couldn't hold the power. They destroyed our powers and now the others have traveled to a distant planet to try and find a way to get them back before Ivan comes down and takes over the world."

Fred slowly nodded, his arms crossed over his chest as he listened intently to what she had said. Then he had reached up a hand and rubbed it over his mouth, eyes shifting to the side. "So if you're a ranger that means…Av and them…they're rangers too?" Bailey nodded. Then his eyebrows contorted into an expression of confusion. "So what do Bulk and Skull have anything to do with it?"

Bailey took another deep breath. "They know we're rangers, too," she explained. "Apart from their constant search to try and figure out who the power rangers were, before Av and I had gotten our powers, they found out the night that Av was in the hospital when she was shot. I reckon they saw her power morpher at some point, because we have to have them on us at all times, just in case something comes up."

Fred nodded once more. He was silent for a long time, turning away from her. Lifting his hat off his head, he ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck. Bailey's mouth twisted to the side as she watched him, lightly kicking at the ground. Had she made a mistake? If everything was back to normal, if Zordon didn't lie dying in the Command Center, he probably would've summoned Fred to the Command Center to swear him to secrecy. Her theory being that Lt. Stone, Bulk, and Skull being part of law enforcement keeping them from having to been sworn as well, considering they were well aware of confidentiality within their own jobs. Now, she wasn't sure what was going to happen?

Would he believe her?

Would he say she was crazy?

Still think she was just trying to avoid him and made up a story that would be the easiest to explain? Otherwise, why would someone admit they were a Power Ranger when there would be too much at stake if people did know?

Finally, Fred turned back to her, placing his hat back on his head. "What do you need me to do?" He asked her.

Bailey's body moved on its own, her eyes widened and breath catching in her throat, before the weight of his words lay on her. "Really?" She was wary. Not that she didn't trust Fred, she always trusted people in her life, but and at some point or another she found that her trust was betrayed in a way.

"Really."

Bailey let out a squeal of happiness and grabbed onto the sides of Fred's face and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You're a legend! C'mon!" She turned and started to run down the street. Fred fell into step beside her as the two headed back into the city.

"Where are we going?" Fred asked her.

"Bulk and Skull are going to get me a sample from Ivan's Ooze and if I'm going to test its substances, I'll need Billy's lab. Ivan destroyed the Command Center and with little power there, Alpha says he's not going to teleport me back there unless he really needs my help."

"Alpha? Command Center?" Fred repeated.

"Sorry, I forgot, there's a lot I still have to explain. I'll get to it when I get the chance, first we need to—"

Fred threw out his arm and stopped her. He pointed over towards a large crowd of kids gathered around a guy dressed all in purple and wearing a very pointy wizard's hat. As the two watched, more and more kids raced over, standing at rapt attention. He and Bailey exchanged a confused glance. "Let's go see what's going on," he said and the two headed over, pushing their way to the middle of the crowd. Once they got close enough, they noticed a pile of purple jars sitting on a table next to the guy.

"Gather round, children, gather round!" The guy cried out, waving the jars. "When you have a jar of Ivan's Ooze you the fun will never end. Not only is it disgusting and something that parents would hate to look at, but it makes gross noises too." He opened up a jar and handed it over to the kid that was closest to him. "Try it out, see how it feels."

Bailey gasped quietly. "Ivan!" She hissed to Fred. He silently nodded.

"What are you supposed to do with it?" A kid called.

"How many times have you ever wanted to go against your parents' wishes? They always have something to say, something that you're not allowed doing. Well, this is something you _are _allowed to do. And if they say 'no' and try to take it away, just throw it at them! It's harmless!" He turned to the stack that was next to him and started to pass out the jars.

"Go grab one," Bailey murmured to Fred, nudging him in the side.

Fred gave her a curious glance. "Why don't you do it?"

"I was unmorphed when I first saw him, he'll know it's me," Bailey whispered back. "He might try to do something or target me or something. He _knows _I don't have my powers and I can't risk him targeting me so soon. Besides that ooze he's giving away might have something that I can sample from too." She reached out and pushed him forward.

Fred rolled his eyes and waited in the line that had formed. Once he got to the front, he glanced over at Ivan, taking the bottle that was handed to him. His eyes widened when he got a good look at Ivan, his black eyes alight with an evil fire. There was a menacing air around him and as Fred continued to stare, Ivan's jovial smile dropped and he scowled at the capped young boy.

"What are you looking at?" He snarled. "Take a picture, it'd last longer!"

Fred's eyes widened and he took a step back. Clutching the jar in his hand, he turned and went back to Bailey, glancing over the cover that was put on the jar. "Looks to me like some ordinary gak stuff that they sell in the toy store," he said and handed it over to Bailey.

"You'd think that but who knows what could be in here," the purple ranger reminded him. She moved her lower jaw to the side and took the bottle. Opening it, she sniffed at the stuff before shaking the jar to check its consistency. "Huh, smells fine and it appears to have natural components." She replaced the cap. "Either way, I'll have to see if there's anything that correlates between this and the sample that Bulk and Skull are going to get me. We should start heading over there."

"OK, but let's stop at my house first," he suggested. "I have some stuff that can help."

"Got it." Bailey pulled her cell phone from her pocket. "And I'll call Bulk and Skull and get them to meet over at my house."

* * *

><p>When the rangers landed on Phaedos, they were surprised at how beautiful Phaedos looked. Not only were there Oceanside bluffs and rocks, but the air was warm and lightly tinged with the taste of salt, much like Angel Grove. It being a distant planet, they at least expected there to be some sort of danger that'd befall them as soon as they arrived.<p>

"Wow," Kimberly gasped, looking around. She shifted the precious gem in her hands, careful not to drop it amongst the rocky ground. "It's like…being at the ocean."

"You can say that again," Billy remarked, stepping aside. He placed a hand on Adam's shoulder and leaned over; shaking off his feet as when the rangers had teleported to the planet he had landed in a puddle. "The costal climate is much like Angel Grove; surprisingly there isn't anything toxic in the air or something that would suffocate us."

"That's great imagery Billy, thanks," Rocky said, hands on his hips as he looked around. "So now that we're here…how are we supposed to find this great power? And what do we do with the Healiodore once we get there?"

"First we'll have to figure out where we're going," Adam reminded him. He turned to Billy, who had pulled out the map and started to examine it, twisting it this way and that. "Have you got anything?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted after a minute. "We're supposed to move through the Desert of Despair, but from the looks of it, it's not a Desert anymore. But conferring the map, I think we're supposed to be looking for a distinct rock formation."

"How distinct is distinct?" Tommy asked, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

"Yeah and how come it's not anything as easy as 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road?" Avalon added. The air was suddenly pierced by the sound of a woman's wailing, causing the rangers to slap their hands over their ears. When it faded, they slowly pulled their hand away, lest there was another bout of the screeching.

"Geez Av, I thought you were a better singer than that," Rocky commented, causing the orange ranger to scowl and slap him on the arm. Rubbing the tender spot, he looked around, suddenly concerned. "Hey, where's Aisha?"

"You guys!" The yellow ranger's voice suddenly drifted over to them from behind a large rock. "Over here! You have to see what I found!" The rangers all turned and quickly hurried towards the yellow ranger. As they approached they found Aisha kneeling beside a horned like creature, its skin completely gone and only its skeleton in its place.

"What is it?" Adam murmured, eyes wide.

Billy moved close and examined the skeleton. It didn't look like any animal they had ever seen before. The way its jaws protruded and had horns twisting off the top of the head. "I think it may have been some sort of humanoid creature that resided on the planet," he said after a minute.

"Better question is, did it die by natural causes or was there some sort of a bigger thing that got to it?" Avalon pointed out. She crouched by the top of the skeleton, arms wrapped around her knees. She shrugged. "The way it's pointed…seems like it was trying to get away from something before it fell."

"You might be right," Billy agreed.

"Well, now that we have that very creepy thought, I think we should get going," Kimberly said. "I don't want whatever had managed to get that to get us, too." She turned and started to go, but stopped, noticing a shiny object on the ground. "Hey guys," she said. "Check this out." Carefully putting the Healiodore into her pocket, she reached out and picked up the object. Smoothing her hands over it, she studied it for a few moments, noticing as the seconds passed, the warmth that radiated from it to her hands.

As the seconds passed, the warmth continued to increase until there was an unbearable pain searing through her hands. With a startled cry, she quickly dropped the object and backed up. "Wow, that's really hot!" She waved off her hands.

All of a sudden, the ground in front of the rangers burst into flames. Tommy quickly threw out his arms, holding his friends back behind him as the flames started to rise in front of them. His eyes scanned the area in front of him, looking for a way out, but a sudden explosion behind him caused his flight response to kick in and he, Rocky, and Aisha leapt over the flames in front of them and out of harm's way. Turning back, they spotted Kimberly, Billy, Adam, and Avalon still behind the continually rising wall of flames, looking for an out.

"Quick!" He called towards them. "Jump before it's too late!"

Adam glanced at his friends, backed up, and did a twisting jump over the flames. He crashed into Rocky and the red ranger helped him back up to his feet. Billy grabbed onto Kimberly and Avalon and pushed them towards the side that had the lesser amount of flames. "Hurry!" He cried to them. Kimberly did a tumbling jump over the flames, caught by Tommy once she was clear and Avalon took a step back before doing a standing front flip over the flames. Billy was the last to go; he threw himself away from the rocks behind him as there was another explosion and he crashed to the ground, rolling aside.

It wasn't until he was heaved back to his feet that he noticed the missing map. Patting his hands along his thighs, the realization struck him. He whipped his head back towards the wall of fire and watched as the parchment started to burn.

"Oh no!" He cried, starting forward. "The map!"

"Billy, no!" Tommy called, grabbing onto the blue ranger before he could leap onto the flames. He then noticed movement out of the corner of his eye just in time to see Avalon diving towards the flames and snatch up the map before rolling aside. She let out a loud shriek and dropped the map, the remnants turning into dust. "Av. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," she replied through gritted teeth, hands shaking. She lowered her head. "I just wanted to get the map. We're not going to find the power or help Zordon if we don't get it."

"And we're not going to get it if you kill yourself," Tommy said firmly. He reached out and grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her to her feet. The others gathered around the orange ranger as Tommy turned her hand over. He winced at the look of her burn. "It doesn't look too bad."

"It's a just first degree burn," Billy agreed, taking her hand and looking over it herself. "It'll be fine once we get some antibiotics or something of the sort, but for the time being we'll just douse it in water." He reached up and ripped the bottom of his shirt until he had a strip to use for a bandage. He kneeled down and dunked it into a puddle of water before placing it on her palm and started to wrap it around her palm. "It'll have to do for now."

"Mm, saves me from another scar," the orange ranger said dismissively. She flexed her fingers, wincing once more as pain shot through her hand. "Thanks, Smurf." She lightly started to pick at the bandage and he swatted her hand away.

"Are you sure you're OK?" Tommy pressed.

"Of course." She lowered her hands. "Worrying about me isn't going to help Zordon. We have to keep going." The white ranger nodded and the group started walking inland once more as Billy had put it, if there was a rock formation they were looking for, there was a better chance of it being inland as there was more of a chance of natural rock slides and vegetation to have created it.

Adam trailed behind his friends, deciding to bring up the rear in case something was to attack them with Tommy at the front and the girls placed in between the guys. Frowning, he watched as Kimberly gently swayed in her step, teetering to catch her balance each time they jumped from rock to rock. It wasn't until one of the last few jumps that she suddenly brought a hand to her head, stumbling more than she had moments before. The black ranger quickly reached out and grabbed onto her arm, steadying her. He straightened her, speaking up as the group continued forward, but lowering his voice so no one would hear their conversation.

"Kim, are you OK?" He pressed.

She gave him a fleeting smile, dropping her hand. "Yeah," she said as cheerfully as possible. "Yeah, I'm fine." She ran a hand through her hair. "I was just dizzy for a minute, there. I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" He pressed.

"Yeah, Adam, I'm fine." She reached up and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about me, we have to think about Zordon and restring our powers and the Command Center." She started to move away from him and once again, stumbled. "Whoa."

Adam helped her up once more and looked over towards their friends; none of them had noticed that they were stopped. It filled the black ranger with a bit of confidence; at least it brought a better chance for the pink ranger to open up to him. Being the quietest of the rangers he observed a lot and noticed their habits more than they probably thought they did. And for the past couple of months, he couldn't help but notice how hard Kimberly had been working; not only did she go to gymnastics practices as much as she could, but she was in the Youth Center, working out with him, Rocky, Billy, or Tommy whenever she got the chance, if not working on her own. Even then he had noticed the gain of her muscles, but he also couldn't help but notice how much smaller she was getting.

Her face was a bit thinner than usual, cheekbones poking out more than they had before, skin stretching around her mouth whenever she smiled, her ribs poked out a bit more, her wrists appeared sharper than normal, and not only that but there wasn't as much light in her eyes as there used to be. She appeared to be more tired, listless than usual and while she always managed to get back the energy that made the pink ranger the pink ranger, it took longer than normal.

"Kim…you know, if there's anything you ever want to talk about, you can come to me," he said to her. Kimberly glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He could feel her trembling underneath his hands. "I won't pressure you to do it; I guess I'm just worried. I know things are getting better with your mother but if there's anything else going on," he looked harder at her, expression turning stern, "then you can talk to me, no questions asked."

Kimberly turned and faced him fully. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a shaky breath, bringing her hands up to her hair. "I…it's really weird, Adam," she said slowly. "Everything that happened between me and my Mom, and then Billy's mother, and now Zordon and Alpha…sometimes I don't know what to do anymore. It's, like, everyone around me is starting to fall apart and…and I don't know if things will ever go back to normal."

"As normal as fighting a monster made of ooze?" He lightly teased and laughed as Kimberly rolled her eyes, though she was smiling as well.

"Yeah, I guess our life hasn't been that normal," she agreed then turned to him. "What about you? How are you doing? With Zordon…Sabrina…Scorpina…?"

Now Adam let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair. He didn't know it but that had been what Kimberly had planned as soon as Adam had started asking her questions. To turn the attention back to him, taking it off of her. She felt guilty for lying for him, she really did, but he couldn't know what she was doing. Things were fine; she wasn't taking things too far, just doing what she had to do to get stronger. She needed to be strong for Zordon and Alpha and the others now, while they looked for the great power.

"It's hard," he agreed with her. "I never thought I'd be a part of everything like this…to have so much responsibility to make such great friends through something like this. Now that it's been taken away…I can't even imagine going back."

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

"Everything's going to be OK, Kim," Adam said to her. "I promise."

She smiled at him.

The group continued to walk along the never ending coastal area. Soon, Tommy called for them to stop, stating that they were all going to need some rest. "We're not going to be at our best if we keep moving like this."

Billy shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. "I think we should keep going," he contradicted. "Not only are we out here in the open where anything can attack us, but we need to see if this temperate area ends. Maybe find some food."

Tommy thought about it for a long moment. He took a lot of stock into what the blue ranger had to say, having become the leader of the rangers and after Jason having left, he felt of the blue ranger as his second in command, the one that he could go to if he was questioning his decisions. He could see the point that Billy was saying, but it was different. The white ranger had the responsibility of protection all of the rangers and was the one that had to make the tough decisions when the time came. _Like the zords._

Biting his lip, Tommy gently closed his eyes. Due to the intense emotions of having lost the zords and then going back to find that they lost their powers as well as potentially lost Zordon, it wasn't until then that Tommy realized the brevity of the situation. _He _had been the one that shouted the order to fight as long as they could and _he _was the reason the zords had been destroyed, thus allowing Ivan to take easy pickings of the Command Center. _How can I continue to lead like this? _He sucked in a deep breath and put on a brave face.

"I get what you're saying, Billy," he said gently. "But right now, if we don't get some rest, we might not be able to make it to the place that'll give us some shelter and food. It'll only be for a couple of minutes and then we can get going again." He nodded at the blue ranger. "We have a job to do and it's not going to help anyone if we don't regain our strength."

The blue ranger blew out a long breath and nodded at the white ranger. He gently patted the leader before going over to a large rock and sitting down, stretching his legs out in front of him.

Tommy turned, running a hand over his ponytail and watched as his friends all moved to sit down and take a break. They were all following his lead, he needed to be sure he could still lead them; the guilt had to be dealt with when there was a time to deal with it. Right now they had to focus on Zordon.

"Tommy looks pretty bad," Aisha murmured as she sat on a rock next to Rocky. The red ranger crossed his arms and looked over at their leader.

"He looks OK to me," he remarked, absentmindedly scratching at the inside of his arm. "I mean…I guess we're all dealing with Zordon in our own ways, but…he, Billy, and Kim have known Zordon a lot longer than we have. He's probably really upset over what happened but doesn't want to show it."

"I guess," Aisha agreed with a sigh. She watched as Kimberly broke away from Adam's side and hurried over to her boyfriend. "I hope she can get him to talk, bottling everything up doesn't help anyone, you know?" Rocky made a mumbling sound and nodded. Aisha glanced over at her best friend, eyes narrowed, then looked down, noticing Rocky continued to absentmindedly rub at his arm. "Are you OK, Rock?"

"Huh?" Rocky's head snapped down and he noticed his movement. His eyes immediately jumped to the red line that was drawn across his skin, itchy and crusted over with dried blood, and pressed his wrist against his side. "Yeah, 'Sha, I'm just…wondering what's gonna happen next, I guess."

"Weren't you the one that was so ready to go and come out here?"

"Yeah but still…what if the power _doesn't _exist? Then we came out here for nothing. We're going on blind faith."

"And that's all we have and all we can hope to have if we're going to help Zordon and we _are _going to help Zordon," Aisha said firmly. "You just have to believe we can."

"I _do_," Rocky insisted. "But that can only get us so far against a guy like Ivan."

"Yeah…"

Avalon knelt down by a pool of water and started to gently splash water over the bandage that was around her hand. Her eyes moved down towards the lightning bolt tattoo she had gotten shortly before Billy's mother's funeral. Not only was it a way to remind herself that she was strong now, that she was better without the Vipers, but it reminded her of what she was working for, who she was working with. The friends she had made through the power rangers would help her through whatever happened to fall upon her and she would do the same for them.

But now, it was Zordon that had gotten caught in the crossfire and they couldn't help him. It was a terrible feeling, she hated feeling so weak and that's what had caused her to leap towards the flames for that map when she knew it was a bad idea. It was the instincts that had been engrained into her for the past couple of years, the fight instinct from having been in the Vipers had caused problems with her being a power ranger at points. She could be stubborn in many aspects and not allowing anyone else to take the pain that she felt wasn't deserved was one of them. Though she could admit another one of her bad habits was not thinking before she did something.

"How's your hand, Ava?"

The orange ranger looked up as Billy knelt down beside her, resting his arms on his legs. She gave him a gentle smile, stretching her fingers. "As good as can be expected, yeah?" She chuckled. "It's ironic; considering I used to be able to control fire and now I get burned."

"Well, it's not so much that you got burned rather than it fought back for once," Billy said, causing her to laugh a little bit. He held out his hand and Avalon stretched hers out into his. He gently unraveled the bandage and dunked it into the water before gently blowing on her palm and replacing it. "Though in the end, no one can win against fire."

"Is there something you want to say or are you just trying to sound smart?"

Billy's mouth lifted in the corner then he gave her a serious look. "You need to stop allowing your emotions to get in the way of being a ranger. It's not the first time you've dove head first into something because you allow your anger to get in the way. Soon you're going to get someone hurt."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Avalon said shortly. She snatched her hand back and started to tie the knot to keep the bandage on with one hand.

Sighing, Billy reached out and grabbed the ends of the knot, quickly tying it. "There's something you're not telling me," he said to her. "You're my best friend, I care about you, and I can tell there's something going on."

Finally, Avalon moved her hair from her face. "I thought I was so used to having people leave me, My Mom, My Dad, my friends…and now…I don't think I can stand someone else leaving." She ducked her head, shrugging. "It sounds really selfish, yeah? And I'm probably being a boofhead but—"

"Hey." Billy tightened his grip on her hand. "We're going to find the power and we're going to save Zordon. He's not leaving any of us." She looked skeptical. "You were there for me when my Mom died and now I'm going to be there for you. We're not going to fail."

Avalon nodded, but didn't look convinced. She started to say something to Billy then stopped, gently shaking her head. Now wasn't the time.

Looking out towards the water as it crashed against the rocks in the distance, Tommy looked over when he noticed his girlfriend coming to stand beside him. She gave him a small smile and he leaned in, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey, he replied. "You okay?"

"I was just thinking about Zordon," Kimberly replied. She turned to face the direction Tommy was looking in. "You know everything we've been through together. He's, like, our father, Tommy, and has been since we first met him. How can this happen?"

The white ranger placed his hand on the pink ranger's shoulder and leaned into her, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "He's going to make it," he reassured her. His voice hardened with conviction. "We'll find this power, and then send that slime ball Ivan Ooze back to that sewer he crawled out of." Finally, Kimberly started to smile a little and Tommy knew he had done his job.

They had rested long enough, now it was time for them to get back on the path. "C'mon." The two turned to join their friends but found a Tengu flying straight at them. Startled, Kimberly let out a loud scream and grabbed onto her shoulder, pulling the two down, ducking out of the way as the Tengu flew over head.

"Whoa!" Tommy could feel the draft of the Tengu's wings as it soared overhead. "What the heck was that?"

The other rangers whirled around at the sound of Kimberly's scream and moved out of the way as Tengu continued to fly towards them, nearly knocking them off their perches. The Tengu that had initially gone after Tommy and Kimberly circled back around and headed towards the two rangers once more and they turned, flipping off the rocks before they could get hit, joining the other rangers.

They watched as the Tengu continued to fly around, circling them like buzzards going after prey. "What are those things?" Aisha asked. She ducked out of the way as another Tengu headed her way.

The Tengu continued to circle around the rangers before landing, knocking Adam and Billy off their feet and onto their backs, the others landing around the rangers, causing them to immediately lash out and start attacking.

Fighting the Tengu was harder than the rangers anticipated. Not only were they big and had wide wingspans, but they were strong. No matter how many kicks or punches or throws knocked the Tengu back, the birdlike monsters immediately came back and attacked them once more. Rocky let out a started cry when a Tengu shot its head forward and pecked at his chest. Reaching up to his wound, he found a cut that was starting to bleed. A startled shriek from the orange ranger beside him let him know that she had just been pecked as well.

"What the fuck?" Avalon cried.

"I know, right," Rocky called back, amongst a flurry of feathers. "Whoever created these creatures pulled out all the stops."

The rangers continued to fight as hard as they could, but the Tengu were simply stronger than they were and without their powers there was no way for them to gain the upper hand against them.

"Now we got em'" The biggest Tengu cried. He flew over to Kimberly and wrapped his legs around her. The pink ranger screamed, trying to get away. "Quick, grab one and lift em' high! We're going to destroy them against these rocks!"

As the biggest Tengu started to fly high into the air, carrying Kimberly along with him, the other Tengu moved over to the rangers and grabbed them by their feet and started to lift them up off the ground as well.

"Kim, hang on!" Tommy shouted.

"Someone help!" Kimberly yelled back.

"Try to keep yourself grounded," Billy called, thrashing as hard as he could, causing the Tengu to lose his grip. He crouched low to the ground. "It'll make it harder for them to pick you up."

But the Tengu continued to grab the rangers, lifting them up into the air, going higher and higher with each stroke of their wings.

"They're too strong!" Aisha cried before a sob of despair left her mouth. She was too weak, with nothing to keep her going she dropped heavily to the ground before allowing herself to get pulled up into the air.

"We need our powers!" Adam yelled as well, twisting back and forth as he was held by the shoulders.

"Get off me you feathered freak!" Avalon shouted, bringing her good hand up and trying to knock the Tengu's claws off of her. Her legs thrashed back and forth as she was pulled up higher than the others, being lighter than them.

"Keep fighting guys!" Rocky yelled.

All of a sudden there was a loud, long roaring sound and the Tengu dropped the rangers, causing them to drop heavily to the ground. The rangers groaned as they looked up, watching as a cloaked figure appeared on top of an overhanging cliff. "What is that?" Tommy managed to ask.

The cloaked figure jumped off the cliff and flung off the cloak, revealing an ethereal looking young woman dressed in a green warrior outfit. Her long curly hair whipped in the around, framing her blue eyes. Picking up her staff, she started to attack the Tengu that came her way, fending them off with ease that was embarrassing to the rangers. Once the woman was sure she had gotten the Tengu at a safe distance, she halved her staff and started to whirl them in her hands. A high pitched squealing sound filled the air and continued to grow louder and louder the more she spun her staff with deft ease.

The Tengu squawked in pain, covering their ears with their wings before backing away. They continued to writhe in pain before turning and, taking a running start, flew away from the clearing, leaving the rangers and the warrior behind.

The rangers pulled themselves off of the ground and dusted off their clothes, taking in the damage that had befell upon them before cautiously walking over to the warrior that had saved them. Rocky slowly started to smile, taking in the outfit of the woman and reached out a hand towards her. "That was amazing he said to her in awe—though not necessarily for the way she had fought. "Thanks."

The warrior put her staff together then slapped it against the back of Rocky's hand, causing him to cower against Adam, who appeared just as affronted—if not fearful—as the red ranger.

"If you want to thank me, go back to wherever it is you came from," the warrior snapped with conviction. "Have you not realized that his place can do to you if you're not ready for it?"

The yellow ranger shook her head. "But we can't go back," she said. "We were sent here. We have to find something, to find someone."

"We were told that there is a great power here," Billy added, moving to the front of the group. He spoke diplomatically, the warrior turned her intense gaze to him, but he didn't balk under the pressure. "Is it true?"

"Yes!" She spat. "The ground is littered with the bones of the ones who have tried for it and failed." She gazed over the rangers with unmasked fury. "And if you're smart, you will leave now before you end up like them."

Tommy clenched his jaw. No. They weren't going back; they weren't going back until they found the great power and saved everyone. "Well we're different," he said. "We won't fail."

The warrior lifted her staff and knocked him onto his back before pressing the tip of the staff down onto his chest. She glared into his eyes. "I don't think you understand. You need to leave Phaedos before its too late."

Adam took a step forward, not able to watch any longer. "We don't want any trouble," he said calmly. "We were told to come here. Our leader, Zordon—"

"Zordon?" The warrior immediately recoiled, allowing the white ranger to get back to his feet. She went over to Adam and stood in front of him, looking him directly in the eyes. Adam swallowed thickly, realizing he was mesmerized by her gaze. "Did…did you say Zordon?"

"You know Zordon?" Kimberly asked.

"Who are you?" Avalon jumped in.

The warrior took a step back and placed a hand on her chest. "I am Dulcea, master warrior of the planet Phaedos. I protect this planet and those that are foolish enough to try and come for the Great Power. Though if Zordon sent you, he must hold a lot of faith."

"Then you're the one we're looking for," Adam said. He turned to his friends, who gave him an odd look. "Remember, we were to bring the Azurite Healiodore and find the one that was protecting the Great Power."

"You have the Healiodore?" Dulcea asked, her voice becoming a bit frantic. "Then things are worse than we thought. Something must've happened to Zordon."

The red ranger nodded. He, very cautiously, took a step towards the warrior. She gave him an apologetic glance and he visibly relaxed for a moment before becoming solemn once more. "Ivan Ooze attacked him and destroyed our Command Center."

At the name, Dulcea's eyes widened. "Ivan Ooze is free?!"

"You've heard of him?"

"Ivan Ooze is a monster. If we don't hurry, you're planet is doomed." She sighed. "But you have the Healiodore, which prove that you are right to take on the power. We'll need to move quickly if we're going to have any hope to save Zordon and the rest of your planet."

The rangers all exchanged a glance before following her.

They were doing it for Zordon.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I hope you guys liked the chapter, now Adam is suspicious about the way Kim is acting and there's something Av is hiding something, of course, it's like second nature to her. The Billy story will be put up after the MMPR Movie arc of this story ends, and when I figure out a title for it.

Thanks to I _love power rangers7135, Adela, brankel1, TerraHart, ZoeyBoey224, TaitanoRules555, Son of Whitebeard, Ashley, and Rose Specktor _for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	6. Chapter 6: The Ninjetti Power

**Chapter 06**

_The Ninjetti Power_

* * *

><p>"Do you want something to eat before going back over to your place?" Fred asked, leading Bailey into his house. He closed the door behind him, noticing his father's truck in the driveway. "I'm sure there's something left over from dinner yesterday." He brushed by the purple ranger and went into the<p>

Bailey's right eyebrow rose as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I would if I didn't think you were doing it as a nervous habit more than actually offering it to me." She flicked her hair over her shoulders. "What are you thinking about? Me being a ranger or all of the monster battles and everything?"

"More, like, what is it that makes certain people rangers and others not?" He replied, turning from the refrigerator, scratching the side of his head. He sat down on a stool and passed the jar of Ooze back and forth between his hands. "And what Ivan could possibly need this for." He moved it closer to his face, reading the label. "I mean, it's just a jar of ooze." He opened the lid and looked inside.

Huffing, the purple ranger reached out and grabbed onto the jar of ooze, setting it aside. She then looked Fred in the eyes. "OK, I'm sorry about lying to you," she said to him. "But I really had no choice but to keep it a secret. If I hadn't, I would've lost my powers, yeah, and as dire as the situation is at the moment, it'll be different if my powers are taken because anyone can have them."

Fred's eyebrows lowered. "Really?"

"Really. It's….like the leftover power that was made and whoever gets a hold of them, good or evil, can control it. If, say, a mass murderer got a hold of my powers, then it'd be an evil ranger, but if someone who was considered good got them, then they'd be a good ranger." She shook her head. "Not that it matters much now. Our powers are gone. The others are looking for a replacement for them."

Fred nodded. He looked up at Bailey and then his eyes shifted behind him and he sat up straight, smiling. "Hi, Dad!"

Bailey turned and smiled at Mitch as he walked into the kitchen behind them. "Hi, Mr. Kelman," she greeted him.

"Hey you two, what are you doing here?" Mitch asked. He went over to the sink and prepared himself a glass of water. "I thought you'd be…doing whatever it is you'd be doing while waiting for the comet or whatever." He brought the glass up to his mouth and took a long swig of crystal clear water.

"We're going to," Fred explained. "In fact, we stopped by here to get my telescope equipment and to bring it over to Bay's place to see if we can make up a super high-powered telescope by converging the two of them together." He scratched the back of his neck, slightly wincing at the lameness of his explanation. But as far as he was concerned, his father fell for it, so at least he didn't have to focus so much about it. "Aren't you working on the construction site?"

Bailey gave him a 'duh' look.

Fred sent a scowl her way.

Mitch laughed, shaking his head. "Actually, I was scheduled to, but after that monster attack, that egg showing up, and the police sectioning off the place, I basically got some time off," he explained. "Now I'm looking for some other jobs that someone may need. I was going to check down the street to see if Miss. Johansson needed me to fix up some things over there. Since her husband passed she hasn't had much time to do it." He then noticed the jar of ooze on the counter. "What's this?"

Fred reacted immediately, jumping to his feet and trying to grab the bottle from him. "Just something I got from the toy store. It's nothing that we really need. I just thought it'd be a good gag gift." He tried to take it back, but Mitch elbowed his son out of the way.

"Relax, Fred, I just want to see it."

Bailey and Fred watched as Mitch lifted the ooze up to his face and quickly sniffed it. He recoiled before placing the jar on the counter and stuck his fingers inside, taking out some of the ooze. He started to say something, and then stopped as a bright light of electricity shot out from the ooze and covered his body.

"Dad!"

"Mr. Kelman!"

Mitch suddenly stood stock still and dropped his arms to his sides. The bottle dropped to the counter and out spilled some more ooze. Using a paper towel, Bailey quickly scooped some into a Tupperware container and clamped on the lid before turning back to Mitch. Mitch continued to stare straight ahead of him then slowly turned and walked out of the kitchen, his footsteps mimicking that of a zombie along with the speed.

"Dad?" Fred watched then followed behind his father as he left the house. Bailey scurried after him and the two raced towards the front door of the house, seconds after Mitch left. There, the two stood and watched in shock; eyes wide and mouths dropped open, as a steady stream of adults zombie-walked down the street in the same direction. "Whoa."

"Something's in the ooze," Bailey murmured. She shook her head. "I don't know what it is. But there's something in it…some sort of mind control." She snapped her fingers, trying to jog her memory. Suddenly, she gasped loudly and grabbed onto Fred's shoulders, shaking him. "That's it, mate! The ooze!"

Fred gave her a funny look. "Okay, so Ivan's Ooze is what's making them turn into zombies, how would he do that?" Then he suddenly understood. "He put part of his power, some sort of mind control power into the ooze, as this ooze is part of him. Then that means that he's got all of these adults under his spell…because their kids brought it home and either listened to what Ivan had to say and threw it at them, or they came into contact with it in some way."

"Then what is it, exactly that's doing it? And why isn't there any sort of side effect to Ivan?"

"Who says there isn't?"

Bailey chewed her lower lip. This may have been the breakthrough they were looking for. To figure out what it was that would bring some sort of a weakness to the monster that had managed to bring so much pain and suffering for the rangers. Now that they had a bit of a sample of ooze, they needed to get to the Command Center and have Alpha get started on diagnostics. But at the same time, they had to see where the adults were going, to see what it was that Ivan needed them for. It may be as grave as her gut instinct was telling her. Taking a deep breath, Bailey tightened her grip on the Tupperware.

"Let's go see where they're going," she decided. Fred nodded silently; she could see the worry in his face for his father. He was the only person he had left in his life, his mother having left them when he was young. And now he had become a sort of a pawn for an intergalactic being that couldn't care less about those that he had under his clutches. "Don't worry about your Dad, Fred, we'll figure something out."

"What about the sample?" He asked, as they two simultaneously went down from the front step and stood at eth end of the driveway and watched as adults continued to steam by them. "Don't we need to get that checked out?"

"This is more important."

The sound of sirens pierced the air and the two turned around to see a police cruiser turn onto the street and slowly pull up towards the front of the house. Bailey peered inside then spotted Bulk behind the wheel. Kull leaned over from the passenger seat as Bulk rolled down the window.

"What the heck is going on?" Skull cried. "We got that sample you asked for,"—he reached into his pocket and pulled out an evidence baggie, showing off the purple slime inside. It shook like jello inside its confines—"and now there are zombified parents all over Angel Grove!"

"It's a long story," Bailey said. She grabbed the handle to the backdoor of the police cruiser and scrambled inside, Fred following her. "Long story short, like you know, our zords are destroyed. The power of the power rangers are gone and our leader, Zordon, is dying. Not only that, but Ivan Ooze, the one that's handing out all of these ooze jars, has something inside it, a part of him maybe, that is controlling the parents. He wants them to do something that us kids couldn't but I don't know what."

"Follow them, Bulkie," Skull declared. "We need to figure out what's going on."

"And what are we supposed to do when we get there?" Bulk demanded, doing as he was told. He slowly, carefully weaved in and out of the stoic adults, following them. As they continued along the streets more and more adults converged upon the crowd, making it that denser. "In case you haven't noticed, there are no power rangers anymore. What are we supposed to do if something attacks again? What if there's a monster?"

"We're already facing a monster," Fred piped up from the backseat.

"I know that." Bulk tightened his hands on the steering wheel, clenching his jaw. "But you have to think of this realistically. Who is going to be able to stop him if you don't have your powers anymore?"

Bailey blinked at him for a minute then leaned forward, grabbing onto the steel cage that separated her from him. She tilted her head and looked at him, her face softening. "You are, mate," she said to him. "You and Skull and the rest of the police force. That's what you signed up for; you felt a sense of responsibility to protect and serve and I've watched you two under the guise of Lt. Stone and you've both come a long way. I wouldn't have asked for your help if I didn't think you could do it."

Bulk shifted in his seat, looking over Skull, who looked meaningfully back at him. That _had _been what the pledged they'd do when they had first started in the junior police academy. And now that they were going towards the actual Police Academy, working closer towards getting that badge after having been kicked out of high school, they had more responsibility put on them. At first, he had been very skeptical of the work they'd be doing; he never thought he'd be able to amount to something that big.

Sure, he had the hope deep down, but it was hard to keep it alive when he was constantly being told he was going to amount to nothing, where the teachers for the next school year were wary of him before giving him a chance to be a student, where he had more people working against him rather than with him the longer time went on.

Bulk turned and looked at Skull, noticing he continued to watch him, waiting for his reaction. Then there was Skull the guy that had been his best friend as long as he could remember. They had been in trouble together, faced their triumphs and failures together, and always had each other's backs. He appeared to be ready for whatever they were going to face and Skull was going to need someone by his side.

"Just tell us what to do," Bulk said firmly. He sat up higher in his set, suddenly filled with determination.

"We'll let you know as soon as we figure out where these guys are going," Bailey said.

She settled back in her seat, holding the Tupperware and baggie of ooze on her lap. She let out a weary sigh, glancing down at her every silent communicator. What she wouldn't give to get in contact with her sister and friends at the moment, to let them know what was going on, to see what was going on their end. As the days went on, there was less and less time for them to figure out what was going on and less time for them to act upon their ideas.

She just hoped they were getting closer to being able to save the world one more time.

* * *

><p>"Are we almost there?" Kimberly asked, gently swaying from side to side with each step of her throbbing feet. "I think my feet fell off a few miles ago and I'm sure this isn't good for my pedicure."<p>

Avalon, who was usually the first one to snap at Kimberly for complaining as well as reminding her that she had feet to use to continue walking, was silent. She let out a weary sigh that matched Kimberly's statement but didn't say anything otherwise. She tilted her head back, looking out towards the starry sky, her mind wandering towards her sister. Was he doing OK? Was anything else happening in Angel Grove that they weren't there to stop? More importantly, if their father knew everything about the two of them, having watched them closely for years, having accidentally injected Avalon with the prototype of powers that were reminiscent of the power rangers; did he know what was going on in Angel Grove and what was he doing to help them?

The government had a lot more power over things than anyone would have ever thought. How else would he have managed to know every single thing about their lives since he had, in a way, walked out on them? After their conversation in Australia, where Avalon finally admitted that she was nothing short of angry at him, but at least allowed herself to forgive him for what he had done, she wondered if he still cared about her and Bailey enough to try and help their city. Anger, fiery and hot shot through her body, causing her upper lip to curl and a light growl to escape her lips. Her mind raced a mile a minute, each damning thought replaced with another one, shooting by as the seconds passed.

If she found he wasn't doing anything to help, if he hadn't known there was something he could've done... she didn't know what she'd do.

The rangers continued to follow Dulcea, their footsteps having gone from the rocky ground of the coastal area to the dense forest. Twigs snapped underneath their shoes as they continued along, their progress becoming sluggish as the sun started to go down.

"Dulcea," Billy finally called. He sounded as weary as the rest of the rangers, though did his best to hide it. "Where are you taking us?"

Dulcea turned her head, through she continued walking. Her blue eyes trained over the rangers and while she still held a stony look in her eyes, her face softened. She knew this was hard on the rangers; they were losing their mentor and great friend. She understood the kind of empowerment and motivation Zordon held for all of the rangers and now it was being taken from them. For the short amount of time she had known him, before he had mysteriously disappeared, Dulcea got to know the man as a great wizard and knew things had to be going dreadfully if his life was in the balance.

She took a quick breath before responding, "you shall know soon enough."

"We have to hurry," Aisha pressed. "We don't know how much longer Zordon has. If we're gone for much longer—"

"Zordon was aware of the risks once he obtained the Azurite Healiodore," Dulcea reminded her. "He has nothing but faith in you all and you should be proud of that. You must believe in yourselves."

Tommy reached out and grabbed onto Kimberly's hand, holding it tightly in his. The pink ranger looked up at him and was suddenly lost in his eyes. Something washed over her; the same feeling of love and protectiveness she had felt when she first realized she loved him, on her birthday. But this was different; this was even stronger than she had ever felt before. She knew…he was the one.

The one she'd spend the rest of her life with, the one she wouldn't mind risking her life for in battle, the one that she could look to for comfort when she needed it. And here he was, doing that for her when all they needed was confirmation that what they were doing was worth it and that Zordon would be OK. Her stomach growled and the warm feeling was instantly replaced with a sudden shockwave of cold guilt. The pink ranger pulled her gaze away from the white ranger and looked at the ground, focusing her attention on her throbbing feet.

Finally, Dulcea led the rangers up a steep incline and as the large branches and leaves of the foliage were pushed out of their way, a medievalesque rock formation sat before them. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha exchanged glances of Then we see them going across a dirt ground, and then we see a castle shaped rock formation. The ruins stretched around them in the large clearing, a fire pit sat in the middle of the ruins. The ruins sat atop the largest cliff, with orange sky surrounding them on all sides, showing off the many moons Phaedos had to offer.

"Wow," Rocky breathed. He spun in a slow circle, taking in the sights the ruins had to offer.

"Amazing," Adam agreed. He placed his hands on his hips, walking up to the edge of the ruins. His eyes scanned over the area of Phaedos they hadn't gotten to by that point. There was still so much they had to search for, if the great power really was something they could obtain. They were close, he could feel it. _We're coming for you, Zordon. Please hold on._

"Beauty," Avalon whispered. Despite the situation, she shared a smile with Tommy. The ruins were majestic, rustic, something they would probably never be able to see again. And it being on a distant planet were no one else would ever reach made it that much more…breathtaking.

"What is this place?" Tommy asked Dulcea, the rangers all turning to face her.

Dulcea stretched her arms out wide, showcasing the area around them. "These are the ancient ruins of the Ninjetti Temple," Dulcea explained. She lowered her arms and faced the rangers, holding tightly onto her staff. She looked at the area around them before motioning towards the edge of the ruins, towards the jungle that stretched out ahead of them. "There, beyond the Neyolid Jungle is the monolith. Inside awaits the power of the universe. The great power you're looking for. The great power you had been destined to find, that Zordon has send your for. Out there…" She took in a deep breath, her long, wavy hair moving out of her face as a light wind blow. "The monolith is heavily guarded against intruders. No one has ever survived an attempt to reach it."

"Then how can we?" Aisha asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, if no one else has succeeded…how do we know we won't be picked apart by more things like those Tengu?" Avalon added. Her lower lip stuck out a little bit as she chewed it with worry.

Dulcea looked at Aisha and Avalon, giving the latter a bit of a frosty stare. "You were chosen by Zordon, I have faith in his wisdom."

Tommy took a step forward. They always had Zordon's faith on his side, but that didn't necessarily mean they were going to succeed if they ever needed to. They couldn't always go off just on blind-faith as much as they wanted to. "Can you help us?" He asked.

Dulcea turned around and walked towards the fire. "We will call upon the sacred animals of the Ninjetti for help."She grasped the Azurite Healiodore in her hands. "That's the power that resides in the Heliodore. The power of the spirit animals and the elements they're related to. They're deep inside you just as they're deep inside this stone. The stone came from this planet, Phaedos. And has harnessed the spirit of the ninjetti for years, waiting for those that were waiting to harness them."

The stone glowed in her hands and she nodded to the rangers. "Please stand there and be prepared to take on the power of the ninjetti."

"Is this the great power we've been looking for? "Adam asked the woman as the other rangers moved to do as they were told. Dulcea turned towards him and walked forward a few paces, standing in front of him. Her eye moved up and down his form and Adam blushed, looking away from her. "I…I just want to be sure this isn't all for nothing."

"Adam…" Dulcea's voice was low, soothing. "If this wasn't to happen, you wouldn't have made it here."

The black ranger nodded and Dulcea gave a hint of a smile. She tilted her head and Adam nodded before going off to join his friends. Dulcea placed the Azurite Healiodore on one of the largest rocks nearby and stepped back from it. She pointed her staff at the gem and it glowed a bright white color before the light shot up into the air. There was a cracking sound and the Azurite Healiodore fell apart, crumbling into dust. The dust flew through the air, riding the breeze, until it fell over the fire pit that was sitting in the center of the ruins. As the dust fell over the fire, the fire instantly roared to life, creating warmth around the otherwise cold ruins.

The light faded and fell into her staff. She picked up her staff and turned back towards the rangers, her eyes set in determination. She stopped at the edge of the fire and looked over the seven rangers, taking in each of them for a few seconds before her eyes moved onto the next. "Very deep within each of us is an animal spirit waiting to be released. Close your eyes and look deep inside."

The rangers glanced at each other before they all nodded, closing their eyes. Dulcea brought up her staff and held it up high. She closed her eyes and focused on the energy inside the staff. Opening her eyes, she pointed it towards the rangers and the light escaped once more, shooting over the smoke the flames produced, striking the rangers. Sparkles circled around the rangers as the flames continued to increase in strength, rising higher and higher over the flames. When the fire finally died down, the rangers stood in new suits, in their respective colors, taking on the form of the Ninjetti.. Dulcea then blows the dust over the fire and the flame of the fire gets taller.

Dulcea motioned for the rangers to take off their hoods and masks before walking over to the yellow ranger. She smiled down at the African-American teen, who smiled back. "Aisha, you are the Bear, fierce and unstoppable." She then moved over to Rocky, who grinned, hands clenched into fists. He was already ready to see what his new powers had to offer. "Rocky; powerful, smart, you are the mighty Ape." Then she moved on to Billy, "Billy, you are the Wolf, cunning and swift."

Next was Kimberly, "Agile Kimberly, light as a feather, you are the Crane." Then Avalon. "Avalon, ferocious and protective, you are the tiger." Then she moved onto Adam, who looked down at his ninjetti suit and turned away. "Adam…" She gazed at him for a long moment and he continued to refuse her gaze. "Adam, what's wrong?"

Adam twisted his hands together, gently rocking back and forth on his feet before replying, "I'm a frog." What was a frog going to do compared to his friends' animals? Stick it tongue out and hope to catch his prey? What parts of himself were represented in a frog? Did that mean that he didn't stand up to the power that was being given to them?

The warrior laughed at his plight and shook her head. "Yes, a Frog, like the one you kiss, you get a handsome prince." She tells him, kissing his forehead. Adam smiled a little. "Patient and wise, Adam. That makes you the frog." She then moved over to the white ranger. "And you Tommy are the Falcon, winged lord of the skies."

She stepped away from the rangers and addressed them all. "There is one last power, that shall be taken over when the time is right. Determined and proud…shall become the lion." She placed her hand on her chest. "To be in harmony with the animal spirit, is to have the force of the Ninjetti. To those who are Ninjetti, anything is possible." She tells the rangers. "But I'm afraid you must do this on your own."

She continued to back away until she was on the far end of the ruins. The rangers exchanged glances, noticing the solemn of her tone.

"You're not coming with us, Dulcea?" Aisha asked.

"If only I could," Dulcea said. "However I cannot step beyond the plateau. If I do decide to take that risk, I'll age as rapidly as Zordon. There strength is inside you, trust it, trust _them. _Your sacred animals will be your guide and may they watch over you." She smiled. "Allow yourself to become immersed in your ways and when you truly do connect with that power, you will be ready to accomplish the Great Power." She lifted her staff high into the air and the staff let out a bright light, when it faded a snowy white owl sat where Dulcea had been.

The rangers watched as the owl flapped its wings and flew off of the ruins.

Tommy turned to the rangers. "We better get some sleep guys," he said to them. "We're going to need it if we're going to get some training in."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry this chapter is so short; I had a lot of school work to do as well as driving to get home for Thanksgiving. Next one will be longer and it'll, finally, get back to the more original ideas I had for the story as well. Also, from here on out, chapters will focus on a ranger's POV as well as what's going on with Fred, Bailey, Bulk, and Skull.

Thanks to _sweetredranger, Adela, I love power rangers7135, heartpunker124, TaitanoRules555, Son of Whitebeard, Ashley, Rose Specktor, brankel1, and ZoeyBoey224_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	7. Chapter 7: Training Day

**Chapter 07**

_Training Day_

* * *

><p>When the rangers awoke the next morning, after having been led by Dulcea to huts that had cots of their individual colors inside, the rangers noticed Dulcea standing in the middle of the clearing, waiting patiently for them.<p>

"Dulcea," Adam said to her, exchanging a glance with the rangers. He slowly walked towards her. "What are you doing here? I thought…I thought we were supposed to do this on our own?"

The warrior gave him and the rangers a soft smile. "You are to find the great power…fight Ivan all on your own. But I cannot reveal the powers of the ninjetti to you all and expect you'd take it upon yourselves to learn it quickly." She motioned with her staff. "You are to train, to learn that the animal spirits are inside you, to guide you where you are to go and to help you along the way."

"Where did the spirits come from?" Billy asked. Adam glanced over at the blue ranger. His eyes were narrowed in the expression he typically had when thinking or stumped with a hard question. "They great power…they couldn't have just…_existed."_

The black ranger exchanged a glance with the red ranger, who had made a quiet snorting sound beside him. The two locked eyes, trying not to laugh out loud. That was Billy; he was a rational thinking, scientific driven guy. Having gotten such a small idea of how they had gotten their powers as well as where they had come from and how the Azurite Healiodore had fallen into it probably didn't sit well with him when he just wanted facts and answers.

And all Adam wanted was to get the power, get back to Earth, and save Zordon. _And Sabrina…_he sighed quietly. It was a hard situation to be in; falling for a girl that had turned out to be one of the monsters that had continuously tried to destroy him and the other rangers. And that was only when she turned into Scorpina, otherwise she was a normal, sweet, girl that seemed to be Adam's perfect match. He had left her behind at Ernie's, having been called out to help Zordon…then she had been a great hand in helping destroy their zords and power and had _laughed _and screamed in victory when they fell.

That was the hardest part; knowing Sabrina was in there somewhere but when Scorpina was around, he was stuck between the decision of killing her and potentially killing Sabrina too, or allowing himself to be killed. _How does anyone get through that decision? How did Kim and Billy get through it when Tommy was the evil green ranger?_

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Adam turned his attention back to Dulcea as she had started to speak once more. "Very well, Billy, I can see that this information will be of help to you." She tilted her head to the side. "You really do exhibit the attribute of the wolf."

Adam looked over as, on his other side, Avalon shuffled her feet, letting out a quiet sound that he thought resembled a growl. But when he looked at the orange ranger, he watched the annoyed expression quickly move off her face and turn back to one of curiosity, as if she had been innocently listening to the warrior the whole time.

"The power of the Ninjetti was developed by the Nathadians," she explained. "Those that inhabited areas from all over, from other times…other dimensions. They were the ones that had brought the Great Power from their existence and placed them in the Nathadian Monolith."

"The Nathadian Monolith," Kimberly repeated breathlessly. "Is that what we're looking for?"

Dulcea nodded in confirmation. "The Nathadian Monolith has been protecting the Great Power for centuries…thousands of years…and beings from all over the universe had tried to obtain it." She flicked some of her hair over her shoulders as a pained expression filled her face. However, she kept her head held high as she spoke her next words, "I am the sole remnant of the Nathadians."

Adam lowered his chin, giving her a moment of silence as her voice very briefly caught in her throat towards the end of her speech. He couldn't begin to imagine what it was like for Avalon, who's parents had abandoned her, Tommy who had been adopted and didn't know anything of his birth parents, Rocky who's father had left his family not too long ago, and Billy who had just lost his mother to a monster fight were feeling. He couldn't even _begin _to imagine what that would've been like, but having been the only person left in the entire race…that was horrific. He understood why Dulcea had tried her hardest to keep the rangers from staying on Phaedos and seeking out the great power. She didn't want to watch anyone else continue to perish while they tried to get to the power she and her people had sealed away.

"In our language, "Nin" means man and "Jetti" means animal," she continued. "The power of the Ninjetti is a combination of man and animal becoming one. The genesis of what you on Earth have come to know as the ninja…it's the perfect unison of mind, body, and spirit. Without the ninjetti power, the Great Power would destroy you all." She motioned to the area around her, where the rangers finally noticed that there had been food set up for them. "Please, eat; you'll need your strength for training." She sat cross legged on the ground, the bottom of her cloak rising up over her legs as she did so.

The rangers sat down in a circle in front of her, taking the positions where their color coded dishware was placed for them. Adam looked over at Dulcea and did a double-take, feeling a small smile slide onto his face. He couldn't help it; he was a healthy teenage boy and the fact that her outfit under her cloak was more scantily clad than the one before. Glancing at the other boys he noticed that they had similar stunned expressions on their faces.

"I expect you all have a lot of questions," Dulcea remarked smoothly. "What else is there you'd like to know?"

There was a moment of silence and Kimberly looked over at Tommy and frowned, noticing his gaze. She gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs, causing the white ranger to jump and whip towards his girlfriend, blinking rapidly. His ponytail flew over his shoulder as he glanced at her.

Kimberly looked at her boyfriend with narrowed eyes. "The lady asked you a question," she remarked through gritted teeth.

"Huh?" He blinked and came back to his sense, suddenly causing the other boys to do so as well.

"Uh-oh," Rocky muttered under his breath in a sing-song voice. "Someone's in trouble." He lifted his plate of food to cover the snicker that burst out of him, causing Adam to laugh. Rocky's laugh was cut short by Aisha elbowing him in the side. This caused Adam to laugh harder, albeit still quietly.

_I guess he's in trouble, too, _Adam thought. His laughter was immediately sobered by the thought. _We're all in trouble, _he realized. They really needed to take things more seriously while they were there. Who knew how much time Zordon really had left?

"Oh, uh, we're, ah…" Tommy tried to come up with a question but keep his gaze away from the warrior as well. So much so that Kimberly rolled her eyes before intervening, saving her boyfriend from his plight.

"You said that the Great Power is at the Nathadian Monolith," she reminded the warrior. Dulcea nodded quietly. "How are we supposed to get to it?"

"To enter the Nathadian Monolith, you must focus on the power, the Great Power itself, for about 20 triacs," Dulcea explained calmly. "A triac is about twenty seconds in earth time."

Adam's eyes flew open as he sat up straight. A triac was twenty seconds of earth time. Was that the time they were in on Phaedos? If so, did that mean more time was passing by on Earth? That more time was passing for Zordon. The sharp intake of breaths around him proved his friends had the same thoughts. Kimberly's face feel, Aisha wrapped her arms around her knees, chewing her lower lip, Avalon appeared angry—which as Adam had come to realize wasn't a far association with the orange ranger, Tommy suddenly appeared very tired, Rocky looked concerned, and Billy looked as serious as Adam had ever seen the black ranger.

"Zordon had mentioned something about the Order of the Meledon," Billy spoke up. "What was that?"

Dulcea gave a soft smile. "The Order of the Meledon was a rebel factor, they were the ones that lured Ivan into his chamber and buried him. They were Zordon's faction of brave, young warriors."

"So they were power rangers?" Avalon asked, slowly nodding. "But of a different space as Zordon's said that we're the first human rangers, yeah?"

"You are correct, tiger warrior," Dulcea remarked with a nod. "We were also part of the peace-keeping force. Zordon was…widely regarded as the finest commander in the galaxy, if not for him, the universe would be a very different place from what it is today. Over time, our enemies were defeated, I returned to Phaedos and Zordon moved on to continue the struggle elsewhere." She paused. "I see that you've noticed my plight when I heard Ivan was free and Zordon lay dying. Without his help…Phaedos would never have been rid of Ivan's evil reign and I would've perished along with the rest of my people. I owe him my life."

There was another long moment of silence and Dulcea regained her composure. She picked up a clay mug and drank the cool water that was inside before picking up her bowl. She motioned for the rangers to start eating. She picked up a slug-like creature and slid into her mouth, sliding it into her mouth with an audible slurp and pop, swallowing it thickly.

Avalon grimaced, looking into her own bowl. "Is this food?"

Dulcea nodded, picking up another one from her bowl. "They're called squirbs," she explained. "They're very delicious and it promotes strength."

"Strength from what?" Adam murmured, poking at the squirb in his bowl. It squished and wiggled as he did so. He felt his stomach moving a few inches to the side. "From trying really hard not to puke?"

"You're telling me," Aisha said under her breath. She looked into her bowl and dry-heaved before pushing it away from her. "I don't think even Rocky will eat this and he eats _everything." _Rocky grunted, picking at his own food.

Kimberly squealed, poking her own squirb before picking up the eel-like creature between her fingers. It wiggled back and forth. "Oh, this is, like, so sick," she moaned. "I think mine is a bit undercooked." She watched as Dulcea sprinkled something brown on top of her squirb and continued to eat. When she was sure no one was looking, Kimberly tossed one of her squirbs over her shoulder and into the underbrush. Her stomach growled in protest, but she ignored it.

The Phaedoian warrior's eyes sparkled as she watched the rangers continue to squirm, clearly enjoying their torment as they tried to eat the bizarre food. Tommy poked his squirb and let out a cry of surprise when his hissed at him, aiming for his finger. The white ranger quickly pushed his bowl away, shuddering.

Adam leaned forward and watched as Billy let out a heavy sigh, preparing himself, and picked up a squirb between his fingers. He slowly raised it to his mouth and put it inside before he could stop himself. He chewed a few times and swallowed before burping loudly. Adam's mouth dropped open in shock, surprise, and disgust. He was sure his face immediately screwed up into an expression of revulsion that had to have rivaled Avalon's. He would've laughed at her expression if his wasn't frozen as well.

"Not bad," he finally said, licking his lips.

"Want mine?" The blue ranger suddenly had dishes of the colors of the rainbow shoved in his face. He gave them all serious, almost Dad-like, looks, silently telling them to eat their own food, causing the rangers to, dejectedly, drop their bowls back into their laps.

Adam picked at his food as he looked around the clearing. The clearing they were in was humid, a thick cloud of heat surrounding the rangers. But their ninjetti suits had proved to be more functional than any of them had thought. They were loose, thin, and kept the rangers cool despite the climate around them. The jungle around them creaked with what sounded like the sort of insects and animals the rangers had on Earth. That was the slight bit of comfort they all had while on the distant planet.

"Listen," Tommy finally said. "We appreciate your hospitality, Dulcea, but we really don't have a lot of time."

"And for all we know, Angel Grove could already be under attack," Rocky added. "We don't have time for this." He held up his hands as Dulcea turned his way. "Not that I want to get attacked by your scary staff and all of the power you possess but…"

He trailed off as Dulcea swiftly stood up, and whisked off her cloak, revealing her outfit once more. The hardened expression returned to her face as she looked over the rangers. Her eyes flashed. "Prepare yourselves for the most intense physical and mental training you'll ever receive."

Dulcea led the rangers off a little further into the clearing before taking the girls one way and the boys another. Once she came back to help the guys, she worked with them one by one, demonstrating each of their powers. First, she led them to a waterfall that had rocks protruding from the bottom. She motioned for Tommy to follow her to the rocks and moved, standing upon the. Rocky, Billy, and Adam stood aside, watching the warrior as she turned to the white ranger.

"The falcon never struggles with air, it becomes one with it." She turned and jumped high into the air, soaring over the rangers' heads, and landed on another protruding rock on the other side of the clearing.

Adam's mouth dropped open. Not only was the warrior strong and very beautiful, but she was clearly very skilled as well. He exchanged a stunned glance with Rocky and Billy, whose mouths were dropped open as well. _Whoa._

Tommy tried not to let his shock show on his face. He lightly started to bounce back and forth, psyching himself up. "You can do this, Tommy," he said to himself. He glanced down at the water and then back over towards Dulcea. "Oh boy, you can do this."

He spread his arms out as far as he could, leapt forward, and rocketed down towards the water, sending out a large spray as he crashed through. Rocky bust out into hysterical laughter, grabbing onto his sides and exchanged a glance with Adam. Billy brought a hand up and covered his mouth; trying and failing to conceal his laughter.

Tommy sputtered as he came back to the surface, pushing his headband out of his face. "Ha ha, real funny." He kicked his way over towards the edge of the pool and lifted himself out. His ninjetti outfit clung to him, making him appear like a waterlogged cat with a glare to match. "Let's see how well you do."

The three laughing rangers suddenly cut off as Dulcea landed on the ground beside them, hard enough to crack the ground underneath her feet. Rocky cowered in fear behind Adam, who had tried to duck behind him as well. Dulcea turned to Billy, giving him a hard look.

"You all will have plenty of time to work at this; it is now your turn, wolf warrior." She walked over to the trees nearby and picked them up. She handed one over to Billy, who took it and glanced at the length for a few moments before looking back at Dulcea. "The wolf relies on its enhanced senses to guide it. He can hear what we can't hear, smell what we can't smell." She slowly swung her stick around, them making a light whistling sound as she did so.

"It's all about angles and geometry," Billy said. "Kind of like pool, figuring where would be the best place to strike with the length of the weapon." He crouched into a fighting stance and started to swing at Dulcea. She easily deflected each and every one of his blows before she struck back, striking him with her stick before finally thwacking him across the shoulders and knocking him into the water of the pond.

Before Rocky had a chance to burst out laughing once more, Dulcea motioned for him to go over to the towering tree the large sticks had been leaning against. She made a show of scrambling up the tree, making it to the top in a matter of seconds. She dropped back to the ground, next to a wide eyed Rocky. "The ape is strong, but more importantly flexible and free."

_That proves it, she just wants to embarrass us, _Adam thought, bringing his hands up to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the tree. _Or kill us, whichever comes first. _

"OK." Rocky spat into his hands, rubbing them together. "Let's see what I got." He grabbed onto the tree and started to scramble upwards, making it about fifteen feet before slipping and crashing back to the ground. The red ranger groaned as he rolled onto his side. "Apparently not a lot."

Dulcea stepped over him and motioned for Adam to follow her into a clearing a few yards away, through the trees. Adam immediately started to swat at his face as the insects started to buzz around his face, making his skin crawl. Dulcea continued to stand in the middle of the clearing, not appearing to be bothered by the flying insects. As he watches, she suddenly shot out her hand, in the blink o fan eye, and turned her hand over, showing off the insect that she had managed to catch.

"The frog remains still and silent while it assesses its target, then strikes in the blink of an eye," she explained.

Adam nodded, letting out a deep breath. He watched as the insects buzzed around him, trying to find the one that would become his prey. He finally focused on one and his eyes shifted back and forth in the air in front of him before he reached out a hand and…missed completely. He tried a few more times before blinking in surprise as Dulcea's fist suddenly appeared in front of his face. He stumbled backward and fell onto his back on the ground.

Dulcea walked over and stood above him for a moment before kneeling on the ground beside him. She looked over his face for a few moments before shaking her head. Reaching out, she patted him on the cheek.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Adam, you can do this." She stood up once more, straightening her staff. "I'll leave you all to your training." Lifting his head, Adam watched as Dulcea walked away, before dropping his head back to the ground.

The rangers continued to train as long as they could, slowly over time starting to make headway with their training until they were finally able to do everything the way Dulcea had shown them. Adam lowered his hand as he caught his millionth fly. Though if he was being modest, he was sure it was only a few thousand, he had been working on it long enough. Grinning, he turned and walked back through the brush to meet up with his friends. Now the frog didn't seem as such a wimpy animal spirit as it had been before.

Being able to strike so quickly…it was nothing like he had ever felt before. When the other rangers had said that they were able to actually control the elements before…it must've felt like that. He had never thought he would go on to become someone that other people counted on and would look up to. Having to leave to find the power to have them again…he just hoped that Ivan wasn't doing too much damage on Angel Grove. How many other people had that sort of responsibility?

_Let's just hope we can find the Power and get back to Zordon in time. _Adam wiped sweat off his forehead as he came through the clearing, just in time to watch Rocky climb p the tree once more. He made his way to the top in a few seconds before sliding back down to the ground. Adam shook his head as the red ranger landed in front of him, a large smile on his face.

"Dude, this is awesome!" He cried before giving Adam a high-five. "If this was deep inside us for so long, I wonder why we hadn't been able to tap into it before."

Adam shrugged, falling into step with his best friend as they headed back towards the waterfall. "Maybe because we relied on our actual morphing powers for so long," he said slowly, working it out as they walked along. "If our animal spirits had always been inside us while we had our powers before, there was no need to tap into it. But how knows, we had handled the Azurite Healiodore in our possession for a while and it hadn't done anything before even though that's where our ninjetti powers were being held." He raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it would've helped when we were fighting Sagittaria."

"You're telling me," Rocky agreed with a snort. "Sagittaria, Goldar, Scorpina." He threw his hands into the air. "Hell, it'd even help us sooner with Ivan and we wouldn't have had to come out here and worry about eating squirbs and stuff."

_Ouch. _Adam lowered his gaze t his feet. Just what he needed, another reminder of Scorpina.

Rocky noticed his mistake and immediately placed his hand on Adam's shoulder, holding him still. "I'm sorry, man," he apologized to him. "I didn't mean to bring it up. I know it's really hard for you, not knowing if she's gonna suddenly shank you or something." Adam rolled his eyes as Rocky laughed to himself. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. But still, it must suck."

Waving a hand, Adam lifted his gaze. "It's hard," he admitted. "I mean, I can't really get close to her because, like you said, I don't know if she's gonna suddenly turn around and stab me or something. But…it's not fair that she got brought into this and—"

"Have you ever thought that you're not really into her but more that you're helping her because you feel that you _owe _her to help her?" Rocky asked. The question stopped Adam dead in his tracks, seconds before Tommy landed on the ground in front of the two of them, making the black and red rangers jump and let out a screech of surprise.

The white ranger's eyes widened as he reached up and pulled off his hood, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Geez, relax, guys, you're acting like you just saw Rita without her makeup or something." He laughed at his joke and walked over to the edge of the pond the waterfall, Billy coming over from the bushes.

"What happened?" the blue ranger asked, tightly holding onto his weapon. "I heard someone scream."

"Apparently their nerves are shot more than we thought they would be," Tommy remarked. He removed the top half of his ninjetti suit and pulled off his boots. Rolling up the bottoms towards his knees he waded into the water and started to wash off his upper half. "I don't know, Billy, if they keep working like that, they may not be able to handle being rangers."

Billy's eyes made a half-rotation as he smirked, tossing his weapon aside. "I don't know, man. They've been helping us so far, I don't think you should kick them out yet."

"Ha ha." Rocky rolled his eyes and he, Adam, and Billy followed Tommy's lead and stripped down to the bottoms of their ninjetti suits so that they could start to wash themselves as well. "And to think the only other alternative we have is to stay here with Dulcea." He paused before smiling widely. "Which doesn't seem like a really bad alternative if you ask me."

"Yeah, y'know, other than having to worry about her rapidly aging like Zordon once she gets too far away from the ruins," Billy reminded her. His smirk widened. "Other than that, I'd say go for it." He and Tommy laughed as Adam smiled.

"It wouldn't work for me anyway," Rocky continued. "She has a thing for Adam."

Standing up straight, Adam glanced over at the red ranger with an incredulous expression on his face. "Dulcea doesn't have a thing for me."

"She kissed you on the forehead, dude," Rocky pointed out.

"So?"

"So, the only other people that we know that do that are Av and Bay," Tommy pointed out. "Otherwise that'd be really weird." He snapped and pointed over at Rocky, whose face immediately dropped from the smile that was almost ever present. "Watch it." The red ranger lifted his hands defensively but didn't say anything otherwise.

Adam shook his head. "Her kissing me on the forehead doesn't necessarily mean that she has a thing for me." He shrugged. "I was upset—"

"—about having a wimpy animal, we get that," Rocky said. He then let out a cry of pain as Adam used his new ninjetti powers to strike Adam on the shoulder. "Ow! Geez, all I'm saying is that Dulcea is a very attractive woman."

"For an alien," Tommy pointed out.

"I saw the way you looked at her today," Rocky pointed out. "And you're lucky Kim only elbowed you instead of forcibly picking your jaw up off the ground." He rubbed his ribs. "And 'Sha really packs a punch when she needs to. It seems like Billy here was the only one that managed to get out unscathed."

"Sure, if the jealousy doesn't do him in," Tommy spoke up.

The blue ranger lifted his gaze to the sky, ears starting to turn red before the crimson hue bloomed across his face. Finally, he lowered his gaze to the white ranger's. "I don't know—"

"Don't even try to deny it," Tommy interrupted. Now Adam and Rocky laughed loudly as the white ranger took into spelling things out for the blue ranger. "You can't tell me that you haven't noticed that Av gets jealous of nearly every girl you talk to." He scratched the side of his neck. "Remember when she was mad about not being able to go to Australia and Kim was also upset because we were told that we couldn't date?"

Billy tilted his head to the side as he thought about it. There was that one comment the orange ranger had made that had him wondering about it. Though, truth be told, he hadn't put a lot of thought into it only because he had been so busy. Then Kim had arrived at his garage lab that one other time and had basically asked him the same question, but had been very direct about it. He avoided her question the best he could, turning the conversation back to her so that she wouldn't continue to dig into him as she had the tendency to do when the topic of love came up.

"I remember," Billy said evenly.

Tommy made a noise of frustration and Adam and Rocky exchanged glances. The black ranger then decided to try and pick up the conversation. "_I'm _just saying that when we were talking about you going out with Marge Av didn't appear that happy about that either."

"And you always seem to get mad whenever she talks to me," Rocky added. "Not that I can blame you, I've had nothing but good luck with the ladies—"

"—by that he means his mother," Adam broke in, reaching out and shoving the red ranger away from him. Billy chuckled and reached out, giving the black ranger a fist bump. "Seriously, though, I think that you and Av would be really good together." He shrugged, nodding.

"And she's been the nicest to you since we met, and you're the only one that she continuously calls by a nickname," Tommy added. "And you two really do seem to respect and care for each other, dude."

Billy let out another sigh and smiled which caused Tommy to laugh.

"Thank the Lord! Now she can get off my back about me and Kim!" Jokingly, Tommy reached over and grabbed onto Billy's hands, shaking them vigorously. "I wish you all the luck in the world, man."

"We're not getting married, man," Billy reminded him. "I just said that I like her."

"And think of it this way," Rocky chimed in. "If they got married, Billy would be your brother." Now Tommy and Billy laughed before exchanging a glance and turning back towards the red ranger, sending waves of water flying his way. Rocky sputtered, holding his arms up to shield himself before showering them back, using large, arching sweeps of his arms to create massive waves that soaked the blue and white rangers in seconds.

All of a sudden, Adam surged forward when Rocky was looking and leapt on top of him, knocking the two into the water. Seconds later, Tommy and Billy joined the scuffle as well. Whooping and hollering, the boys continued to wrestle in the water, splashing each other until they finally tired out and collapsed back on the sand.

As their laughter faded the gravity of their situation overwhelmed them once more.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Well, I had one chapter that had focused on the girls, so now I needed one that focused on the boys. The pace picks up and this adventure will end soon.

Thanks to _I love power rangers7135, Keren Olivero, Adela, TerraHart, Ashley, Rose Specktor, brankel1, DragonKing19, and ZoeyBoey224_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	8. Chapter 8: Fighting Back

**Chapter 08**

_Fighting Back_

* * *

><p>"Whoa!" Fred grasped the metal cage that sat in front of him and watched as the police car finally managed to weave through the adults that had filled the streets and now found it filled with mayhem. Bailey gasped lightly as she leaned forward as well.<p>

Instead of adults walking like zombies through the streets, there were now a bunch of kids rampaging through the streets and as the four watched, the kids ran back and forth across the road swinging baseball bats and golf clubs. Trash cans were thrown all over the street, mail boxes were bashed in, and as the car turned onto the main street, they saw that storefronts had been bashed in and kids ran out of the broken windows carrying as much loot they could hold.

"Bulkie, should we do something?" Skull asked worriedly, watching as the kids ran back and forth across the street, whooping and hollering.

"I don't know," Bulk said honestly. "They're clearly breaking the law, but I don't think it's normal." He let out a cry of surprise and slammed his foot on the break, causing the car to come to a sudden halt. Fred and Bailey shot forward, crashing into the metal gate in front of them. "Sorry," he apologized seconds before the car started to rock and back and forth on its shocks.

"Hey! Hey! Get off the car!" Skull shouted towards the kids and teenagers that started to climb up onto the cop car. Some stood by the side of the vehicle and placed their hands on the windows, shaking it back and forth. A tall teenager climbed up onto the hood of the car, waving a baseball bat over his head and screaming at the top of his lungs.

And as the four inside the car watched, the teenager brought the bat up above his head and started to bring it back down, but the sound of a gunshot caused the teenagers to scatter. Bailey let out a yelp and clasped her hands over her mouth as Fred beside her, screamed. Bulk whipped his head to the side and watched as Skull pulled himself back through the window of the passenger seat, replacing his handgun into the holster.

The three stared at him and he turned back, eyebrows lowering when he noticed the stares coming his way. "Well, I had to do _something,_" he explained. His hands shook as he brought them back to his lap. "That's the first time I've ever had to shoot a gun," he said quietly. "I hope I didn't hurt anyone."

"You did good, buddy." Bulk reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "You did good." Skull smiled at him gratefully and Bulk turned to look out the front windshield once more. "Now, let's go and save the world!" He turned on the sirens and sped off towards the construction site. As they went, teenagers jumped out of the way of the car but continued to beat the sides as they went by.

Bailey chewed her lower lip, straining to see out the window as they arrived at the construction site. The four quickly clambered out of the car and watched in shock and surprise as the adults streamed into the site. They fell in step along with the stream of people and followed them up to a throne that had been set up in the center of the site. As they approached, Bailey looked over and spotted Ivan and came to a halt.

"Quick!" She cried, darting behind a large pile of dirt. "Behind here!" She pushed Fred, Bulk, and Skull behind the mound and sat down on the ground, pressing her back against it. "I saw Ivan up there, he can't see me or else he'll know that I'm here! He might try to destroy us or something, he's _that _bad!"

"That guy is Ivan?" Skull peered over the top of the mounds of dirt. "_That _magician is a snot bucket monster?" He cried. "At least he looked better then than he does now."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Bailey murmured. She brushed her hair out of her face, taking a deep breath. _OK, what to do? What to do? _Her brain moved a mile a minute. She hadn't thought further than going to see what it was that Ivan was doing. Especially considering it would take forever to find a way to get back to the Command Center if not going straight back to her home to check everything there. _I hope David's OK. _She didn't think he would find a way to get into the Ooze, but who knew what Ivan would do if he got the chance to research the rangers a little. She continued to sit, hunched over as Bulk, Skull, and Fred looked around, giving her the play by play of what Ivan was doing.

"Now there's a golden…monkey with him," Bulk relayed. His mouth dropped open. "Hey! I've seen him before!"

"That's Goldar," Bailey explained. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "He's been chasing us around for years and really wants to see us dead, probably as much as Ivan does. But he doesn't really have the power to do it compared to him, Rita, and Zedd."

"I remember," Skull remarked. "He's chased us around a few times." He sniffed, continuing to look around. All of a sudden, Fred turned and grabbed onto Bailey's hand.

"Bay, it's my Dad," he said. Bailey got up on her knees and leaned against his back, straining to see. The two watched as Mitch walked into the construction site and veered off to the left. He fell to his knees and started to dig through the dirt like the rest of the adults were doing. "I think…they're looking for something," she said. _What could they be looking for? Ivan's chamber has been unlocked and he's clearly running the city. What was it that Zordon had said? _She suddenly gasped loudly and started to pound her fist onto his back.

"Ow! Bay, stop!" Fred hissed at her. "What are you doing?"

"They're looking for ectomorphicons."

"For what?"

Bailey slid off of his back and turned back to Bulk and Skull, who leaned in to hear her explanation. "You know our Zords, right?" The three nodded. "It's sort of like that, but these things can really cause destruction. About 6,000 years ago, Ivan managed to take over the Earth and utterly _destroy _everything, because of those things. I bet that's what he's looking for! He got rid of our powers so that he could regain the ectomorphicons and destroy the Earth."

"So what are we going to do?" Bulk asked.

"First thing _I'm _going to do is get my Dad," Fred said firmly. Before the purple ranger could stop him, he turned and scurried behind large piles of dirt and rock to get to his father. _Bollocks, _Bailey thought, gritting her teeth. She turned back to Bulk and Skull.

"I'm going to go after him, you two see if you two cover me. And hold onto this." She handed Skull the Tupperware of Ooze and scurried after Fred, ducking, bobbing, and weaving out of the way to be sure she wasn't seen. There were Oozemen everywhere, patrolling to be sure the adults were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

When she was about to reach Fred, she heard Ivan start to speak once more. He laughed loudly, gleefully and as she looked up towards him, he had his arms raised above his head. "Feast your eyes upon the exoskeleton of the barbaric Hornitor!" He called. "Keep digging you pitiful, fools! The dreadful Scorpitron should be nearby, and once I have them both up and running, I shall annihilate Angel Grove and those pesky power rangers!"

Bailey chewed her lower lip and continued over to Fred, who had just reached his father and was kneeling by his side, shaking his shoulder. "Dad, c'mon, we have to get out of here!" He glanced over at Bailey with concern as Mitch didn't respond; he continued to dig handfuls of dirt out of the way. "Dad. Dad!"

"Mr. Kelman," Bailey tried. She leaned over and looked into his eyes. His gaze was directed into the ground and periodically they flashed purple. She shook her head. "No good, mate, he's under whatever it is that Ivan has him under. I reckon all these people are."

Fred frowned, eyes narrowing into a glare. He chewed his lower lip then turned back to his father, shaking him even harder. He continued to shake his father, hoping to break him out of his trance until Bailey reached over and grabbed his hand.

"Fred, stop, this isn't helping."

Fred sighed, squeezing her hand. "I don't know what to do," he murmured.

"We're going to figure something out. But right now, we need to—"

"Don't take another step or I'll shoot!"

"You can't assault an officer of the law!"

There was a cracking sound of a gunshot. In normal circumstances people would start to run and scream abut as the adults were under a trance by Ivan, no one moved. Instinctively, Bailey and Fred leapt to their feet and watched as Bulk and Skull fought off four Oozeman that tried to grab onto them.

"Hey, you!"

The two whirled back around, eyes widening when they spotted Ivan and Goldar turned their way. Ivan placed his hands on his hips, taking a few steps forward. "Well, well, if it isn't the little purple ranger that stole my color. I should've had it copyrighted. Did you come here to make your grave that much easier for me to work with?" He snapped his fingers.

"Get them!" Goldar shouted.

A hand landed on Fred's shoulder and he and Bailey whirled around to see Oozemen coming their way. The one that had a grip on Fred brought his other hand up to punch him in the stomach. Fred reacted quickly and pulled off an iron hammer fist strike, a palm heel block, a front kick and a high jump kick that sent the Oozeman flying backwards onto the ground.

Bailey moved into a cartwheel and when she righted herself, sent her foot into the underside of an Oozeman's chin, causing it to stumble back. She followed up with a series of quick strikes with her elbows, fists, and feet. Her limbs moved in a flurry and she finally flipped the Oozeman onto its back and drove her foot into the side of its head. Her stomach clenched in disgust as the force of her kick caused the head of the Oozeman to break off and roll away.

"C'mon!" Fred grabbed onto Bailey's hand and the two raced back over to Bulk and Skull who were using their nightsticks to attack the Oozeman that were in their way. The purple ranger's eyebrows rose in surprise as she watched the two officers fight so viciously against the purple monsters. The knocked the purple monsters back far enough to give them space.

"What are these things?" Bulk asked. He noticed he had ooze on his hand and quickly wiped it off on his shirt. "Ugh, that's like, even worse than the snot covered spitballs we used to shoot at people!" He continued to wipe off his hand as Skull stayed in front of him, holding off the Oozemen.

"Don't just stand there!" Goldar's voice streamed over. "GET THEM!"

Bailey quickly brought her communicator up to her mouth. "Zordon, Alpha, we need to get back to the Command Center!" She lowered her communicator and listened hard for a response. Hearing nothing but static in response, she slapped herself on the forehead. _Bollocks, Bay, how could you forget that you don't have your powers right now?! _Everything seemed to be looming in front of her; and arm's length away from being able to save everyone, Angel Grove, the Earth…and then it just got ripped from her.

"Oh come on!" She shouted towards the sky.

A second later she felt the familiar tingle of teleporting and found herself standing in the Command Center, Fred, Bulk, and Skull having been teleported there as well. As the three looking around in shock, Bailey turned to Alpha and hurried over to him. He turned from the Viewing Globe and opened his arms out to her.

"Bailey," he said. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get you back here." He lowered his head. "We really don't have a lot of power left."

"I know, Alpha, we're doing our best," Bailey said. She motioned over to Skull, who held the Tupperware of Ooze. "We got a sample of Ivan's Ooze, I wanted to do some experiments on it to be sure that we can get some sort of an idea f what'll take off his hold on everyone in Angel Grove, or see if there's a way we can defeat him."

"The last time he was around, he was put into a hyper lock chamber," Alpha agreed. "Otherwise, I don't know if he'll ever be stopped." He lowered his head before looking over at Zordon. "He doesn't have much time left, I'm afraid. You go speak with him; I'll get started on the diagnostics."

Bailey nodded and glanced over at Zordon, who continued to lie on the remnants of his power chamber. She couldn't go over there, not yet. Scratching the side of her head, she turned back to Fred, Bulk, and Skull who continued to look around in awe. She took a few steps forward.

"This is the Command Center," she explained. "It's where we come to get debriefed on the monsters or situations that are happening down on Angel Grove." She motioned to the Viewing Globe, where images of Ivan at the construction site showed. "We can see everything that's going on as soon as Rita, Zedd, or some other monster is sensed."

"So that's how you always know where we are when we're being attacked," Skull said. "I just thought that you had some sort of a sixth sense or something." He shrugged. "Or, I don't know, guardian angels or something." An embarrassed smile crossed his features and he turned to Alpha, who walked towards him with outstretched hands. "What does this bucket of bolts want?" He took a cautious step back.

"This is Alpha." Bailey placed a hand on the robot's shoulder. "He's the one that helps me and Billy design our weapons and works the computers and control panels when we're in battle." She gently shook her head. "He needs the ooze sample to dissect to see if there's anything we can do to stop Ivan." With a sigh, she turned and motioned back towards Zordon. "And that's Zordon. He's our mentor…the one that helps us out with, everything, yeah?" She started to walk over towards him, Fred, Bulk, and Skull following her. "Ivan got in here and destroyed everything and now…he's dying and the others went to find the Great Power to see if we can get our powers back and restore him."

She stopped by the edge of the space where the Power Chamber had been and looked down at the withered, gray figure. Zordon, still breathing heavily, looking over towards her only able to move his eyes. A tear fell down the purple ranger's cheek as she took in his frightening appearance.

"I'm sorry, Zordon," she said to him. "I wish I could've done something more."

Zordon took a couple deep breaths before responding. "Don't fret, purple ranger," he said to her. "You've done all you could and you're not giving up. I couldn't ask for more." He took a deep breath and then turned back to his original position. "I just pray we're not too late."

Bulk and Skull, who had been quietly watching the exchange, surveyed the Command Center. A few of the pillars that had electric currents running through them were smoking; water dripped somewhere, and the destruction all over the floor crunched underneath their feet as they walked around.

"Did you come up with anything yet, Alpha?" Skull asked him.

Alpha, who had been standing over a futuristic contraption at the side of the room, turned back towards him. "I'm afraid not," he replied. "Ivan is a monster and the ooze is a part of him, more than likely coming from a distant planet we haven't been able to reach. I'm afraid there's nothing in the diagnostic that'll give us an idea on how to reverse the effects on everyone in Angel Grove."

"That's all right, Alpha," Fred said quietly. "You tried."

Bulk chewed his lower lip and looked around the Command Center. Everything was gone or broken. Not only had been there been a whole compound where those that had taken the responsibility of protecting the city that used to reside there, but now seeing the friends they had made and the all of the work that had been done to do it…seeing it destroyed liked that was more than he could take. It was their duty as the officers of Angel Grove to protect and serve and what had they been doing? Nothing.

Nothing until they had fought off the Oozemen, but they could do more and they _would _do more. _Lt. Stone trained us and put faith in us to be what we are and we're going to help the city the best we can. _He turned to Skull, who seemed to have thought the same thing he did for the two reached out at the same time and shook hands. Bulk then walked over to Alpha.

"Can you teleport us back to Earth?" He asked. "We can't just sit back and watch as things continue to get destroyed down there."

"Yeah," Skull agreed. "Power Rangers or no Power Rangers, we signed up for it and we're going to succeed."

Bailey turned and looked at Bulk and Skull, nodding. Then looked at Fred and nodded to him as well. She turned back to Zordon and gently placed a hand on his forehead. Leaning in, she whispered, "Hold on as long as you can, Zordon. We're going to stop this somehow." She went back to Alpha and stood in front of him. "Teleport us back down, we'll figure something out."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "Maybe we can convince the kids that there's something wrong with Ivan and we can all stop the parents somehow."

Alpha reached up and placed his hands on Bailey's face. The purple ranger smiled gently at him. "Stay safe, my friend. I know you can do this." He removed his hands and turned back to the control panels and pressed a few buttons, teleporting the four out of the Command Center.

Once they were gone, Alpha walked back over to his friend and watched as the wise sage took a couple more breaths. Then his breathing hitched and there was a rasping sound that came forth from the being's chest. Alpha continued to watch as the breathing slowed and then stopped.

The animatronic robot lowered his head. The being that had been on of his best friends, who helped him traverse the worries of using teenagers, who had given him life through the vast planets and galaxies they had traveled to...was gone. And as Alpha looked down at his fallen friend, he could feel slight twitches of his body, the way they reacted when he would experience and overload of senses.

Internally his gaskets started to leak oil, his version of crying, mourning for his friend.

"Goodbye, my friend."

* * *

><p>Dulcea turned towards the rangers as they faced her in their ninjetti outfits. Their training had finally ended and they were ready to go find the Great Power. She shifted her staff in her hands and walked down the stone steps towards the rangers. "Your training is now complete," she said to them. "You have mastered and taken on the powers of the ninjetti. They will be there to guide you as you continue your fight against Ivan and everything that will come your way."<p>

She tapped the bottom of her staff against the rocky ground. "Once again...I'm afraid that I can't go with you, as I may age as quickly as Zordon would if I leave this place." She gave a small smile. "Though I must admit that the time I've spent with you rangers have been…very enjoyable."

"Oh, we feel the same way, Dulcea," Rocky agreed. "You know, aside from the squirbs, everything was great." He grinned as his friends chuckled around him.

Dulcea smiled and raised her staff. "I encourage protection from your spirit animals. Don't give up on yourselves, trust in your abilities and they're lead the way. Have faith and may the power protect you."

"Thank you, Dulcea," Tommy said.

Dulcea smiled and nodded at the rangers then lifted her staff high. The rangers watched as her staff shone brightly and she transformed into her owl form. Flapping her wings gently, she took off and flew up into the air, soaring away from the rangers, who watched until she was out of sight.

Tommy turned back around and looked towards the Monolith that loomed in the distance. It was going to take some time to get there, but they'd make it and they were going to save Zordon and send defeat Ivan Ooze once and for all.

"It's time." Tommy he said to them and started the walk down from the ruins into the jungle. Avalon took up the rear of the group, plodding along with them. She hardly registered the path they took, stepping over large rocks, branches, and logs as they went along.

Her mind was back on Angel Grove, not really for what was happening there, she had nothing but the utmost faith that they were going to defeat Ivan, help Zordon and return things back to normal. No, it was the 'normal' part that she was worried about. Things around her were never 'normal' not for too long. If she didn't trick herself into thinking things were, or that she would ever be normal then things would've been fine. But no, she ignored the problems that had continued to pile up all summer long and had done her best to keep anyone else from having seen it.

Then the stress of trying to hide it came. Not only had she needed to intercept letters that came to the house as quickly as she could, but fielding calls had become a chore all on its own before having gotten a new cell phone to be able to handle it all. The guilt never bothered her that much that had been something she grew used to as soon as she had arrived in Angel Grove, but now that everything with her friends and family had been going so well she didn't want to bother them with it.

_But that had been what caused so many problems in the first place, _she realized. She wasn't stupid and knew history had a habit of repeating itself, she had seen it happen plenty of times from the people around her. And yet, deep down she was pretty sure it was the best decision to make given the circumstances. And that wasn't the only thing she was grappling with that she hadn't mentioned to the others. Her father wanted her and Bailey to meet up with his other daughter, Dana, so that they could meet and talk things out.

_And yet you haven't told her about us, Dad, _Avalon remembered having told him. How could he suggest the idea of them going out to Australia to finally meet each other if he wanted _that _to be when he would mention his other children? And she wasn't even sure if Captain Mitchell would meet Ryan either. Having grown up under him she understood that with his job and the way he was raised, there were some things that he wouldn't say unless he felt there was a time to say it.

_I guess I adopted the same mindset. _Avalon crossed her arms as she continued to walk along, her thoughts suddenly shifting to her mother. Not only had their relationship improved to the point where Ellie had flown back to Angel Grove for a week and while she and Bailey had a great time allowing her to see the sights and just being around her, she couldn't help but worry about Billy and whether or not it was upsetting him. He had said everything was fine and even David was welcoming, but she knew it wasn't helping.

_I don't know if anything, even talking to someone about it, would help me right now. _Avalon brushed her hair from her face and looked up, almost bumping into Kimberly as they group slowed down. She had been so engrossed in her thoughts she hadn't noticed that the group had slowed down. However, one look at the pink ranger's face and she instantly noticed how tired the pink ranger looked. In fact, Kimberly was breathing kind of heavily.

"Kim, are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kimberly flashed her bright smile. "I just didn't think we'd be doing so much walking. Makes me miss teleporting, y'know?' She hopped over a rock and moved a little bit faster.

The orange ranger nodded but didn't push the subject any further. If the tables were turned and she suddenly had everyone asking 'her' if she were OK, then she probably would've snapped, reverting back to her old self. So she just let her be as the group came upon a clearing that was littered with bones. Some of those they recognized as bones from a dinosaur, but others they found were of beings they didn't recognize.

"They may be of the Nathadians," Billy remarked, placing his hands on his hips as he surveyed the scene. "If not that…then some other races that have come by to try and find the Great Power."

"What is this place?" Aisha asked as she took a few steps into the clearing. She brought her hands up and started to rub her arms. "All of these bones are giving me the creeps. It's like a horror movie in here or something."

"Looks like some kind of graveyard," Billy reiterated. He scratched the back of his head. "But I don't think it was…planned to be one." He exchanged a worried glance with Tommy, who shook his head, carefully lifting his foot to make sure he would make it over a pile of bones without crunching on them.

"I wonder what happened to them all," Kimberly whispered. She grimaced, looking over a skull of a dinosaur, noticing a small hole in the middle of its forehead. She took a step back, nearly knocking Avalon over. The orange ranger quickly grabbed onto her arms and the two backed away from the dinosaurs bones.

"Personally I'd rather not find out," Adam said. He looked around for a few moments before a small smile appeared on his face. "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

"Very funny, Adam," Aisha said to him, an annoyed tone to her voice. Adam continued to laugh to himself. It was ironic in a way, not only had the movie come out around the same time they had all become rangers, but the fact they wound up in a graveyard that was filled with nothing but dinosaur bones was something he couldn't take lightly.

At least Rocky had enjoyed his sense of humor and laughed out loud at the joke, his laughter echoing through the empty jungle. Avalon stepped over a large log, going to take a closer look at what was a humanoid alien then frowned. Thinking she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned around and scanned the clearing. Something was wrong, she could tell. Having been in the Vipers so long gave her the ability of the acute sense to know when something wasn't right.

It was too quiet; there weren't any insects chirping, no sounds of animals scurrying along under the underbrush, nothing. Her eyes shifted across the clearing but found nothing moving. She had started to turn back to the skeleton when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye once more and turned around completely. Tilting her head to the side, she watched as Billy examined the head of a skeleton that resembled a rhino or a triceratops.

Avalon leapt over a fallen log and started sprinting over towards Billy. Her frantic footsteps over the brush caught the blue ranger's attention and he turned around, just in time to see the tail of a skeleton lift up and loom over his head. As it slashed down towards him, the orange ranger leapt and caught him in the chest, knocking the two to the ground as the skeleton tail landed behind them, causing the ground to shake. Pushing herself up to her knees, she looked the blue ranger over, waiting to see if there was any blood or visible damage.

"Are you OK, Smurf?" She asked.

He groaned, eyelashes fluttering. "I think so," he breathed and then paused. "I think you knocked the wind out of me."

She chuckled, moving over and looping her arms under his. Backpedaling, she dragged him out of the way of the skeleton as it came to life, startling the rest of the rangers. "It's not the first time that's happened, mate. Sorry."

The skeleton pulled its head back and roared loudly. Turning its head, the skeleton locked its gaze on the yellow ranger and started towards her. Aisha let out a scream of surprise and stumbled backwards, falling onto the ground. She screamed again as the skeleton lifted it foot and positioned it above her.

"Aisha, hold on!" Rocky shouted. He picked up a bone and ran after the skeleton. He raced forward and smacked the bone on the side of the skeleton's head. The skeleton roared and turned its head to the side, catching the red ranger in the chest. He flew off his feet and crashed in to a tree.

"Rocky!" Kimberly yelled, attracting the monster's attention.

It looked over at them before swiftly bringing it foot down onto a still screaming Aisha. The pink ranger's yell for the red ranger swiftly changed to one of horror, hers mixing in with the rest of the rangers' screams. The skeleton turned and raced towards Adam and Kimberly, picking up speed as it went.

"You guys, help!" Aisha's voice called.

Avalon and Billy looked over where she had been and saw that she was stuck in the ground up to her chest. She placed her hands on the ground and tried to pull herself out of the hole that had been created, but found she couldn't move. The orange ranger hurried over and flopped onto her stomach, grabbing onto Aisha's hand with two of her own. She pressed her feet on the ground and held on as tightly as she could.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let go," Avalon said through gritted teeth, focusing on the effort of holding the yellow ranger, who continued to sink into the ground as the seconds passed.

"You guys hang on," Billy said to them before hurrying to follow the other rangers. Hopefully with his knowledge in science he would understand the anatomy of the skeleton and figure out how to get the thing to fall apart or something.

"Oh, right, like I have better things to do right now!" Avalon snapped back.

As the skeleton came towards him, Adam looked towards the ground underneath its feet and raced back towards him as well. He dove to the ground; hands outstretched and rolled beneath the skeleton, popping out the other side, narrowly dodging the tail of the skeleton that came crashing down behind him.

Kimberly stood her ground, ready to take on the monster with her newly enhanced ability of speed. It had been what Dulcea taught her about the crane.

"The crane maintains its agility through the perfect harmony of mind, body and spirit," Dulcea had explained before having jumped onto a log, doing a hand stand and hand walking to the other end of the log in the blink of an eye before flipping back down to the ground once more.

Kimberly had nodded and then tried her turn, but quickly found herself falling off of the log and into a shallow pond below. It took her a while until she caught the hang of it and found that she could move with the superhuman agility.

She had been ready to use her newfound agility to stop the monster, and then suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion roll over her. Bringing a hand up to her forehead, she tried to steady herself but found the ground around her swaying. There was no way she could fight like that. Turning, she started to run away from the skeleton monster, being chased into a ribcage of another skeleton.

Realizing she was trapped, she turned and watched in fear as the skeleton monster moved towards her, breaking the shield of the bones around her. Her vision continued to slant and turn for a few seconds until it straightened, and she could see just how close to danger and quite possibly death she was. "Tommy," she screamed for her boyfriend. "Tommy!"

"Hang on, Kim!" Tommy raced towards the monster, picking up a large stick as he did so. He smacked the stick into the side of the skeleton before poking it into the empty eye socket of the monster. The monster roared and turned towards the white ranger who raced towards the trunk of a tree and ran up it before soaring a few feet into the air, landing back down on the monster.

"Tommy!" Billy yelled, skidding to a stop. "Hang on!" As the monster thrashed around, trying to shake Tommy off him, the blue ranger's green eyes moved around the structure of the skeleton. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before; though a lot of it was similar. He winced as Tommy was nearly thrown off once more. Finally, Billy spotted the creaking bone. "Tommy!" He cupped his hands around his mouth. "There's a bone that's connecting the head to the neck, right behind the base of the skull! Do you see it?"

The white ranger grabbed onto the spine of the skeleton to keep himself from falling off. He glanced over it and then found the bone he had been looking for. "Yeah, I got it!" He called back. He grabbed onto it with both hands, doing his best to squeeze his knees together, holding himself up. He pulled a hard as he could, ripping the bone out from the skeleton, the force of his pull knocking himself off of the back of the skeleton and fell to the ground.

He scrambled into a sitting position, watching as the skeleton fell apart. His friends hurried to his side. "Are you okay?" Kimberly asked her boyfriend when she got to him.

"Yeah I'm fine," Tommy replied. He lifted up the bone in his hand, laughing a little. "Maybe I should keep this thing as some sort of trophy."

"Looks like Biology finally paid up for you, huh?" Billy said to Tommy with a half smile.

"I'm _so _glad you guys are having loads of fun over there," Avalon remarked in a low growl. "But could you help me, please?!" As the other rangers had worked to fight off the skeleton, Aisha continued to sink into the ground further and further as the seconds passed. The orange ranger continued to hold onto the yellow ranger, slowly leaning forward as the ground continued to collapse beneath her.

Tommy, Billy, Kimberly, and Adam grabbed onto Avalon's right arm, freeing it from Aisha's grasp, and locked it around Tommy's arm before making a chain that extended from the hole.

"Hang on, Aisha!" Adam called to her.

"I'm trying," Aisha called back, still slipping further. "I can hold my ground with the new powers of the bear, but the ground sure ain't holding onto me!"

Tommy leaned over and grabbed onto Aisha's wrist and with a call of, "pull!" to the others, the rangers pulled back as hard as they could until Aisha came flying out of the ground, knocking them over. She fell to her knees; hand on her chest, breathing heavily.

"Thanks guys," She said to them before turning to the orange ranger. "Thanks, Av."

"No worries," she replied.

Kimberly suddenly gasped, sitting up. "Guys, where's Rocky?" The rangers scrambled to their feet and looked around, before spotting Rocky still lying on the ground where he had fallen when the skeleton monster had hit him.

"Rocky!" Aisha cried, leading the charge over to him. She skidded on the ground next to him and cradled his head in her hands, feeling around for bumps or bruises. Pulling her hand back she let out a sigh of relief when no blood came with it. "Rock? Rocky, are you OK?"

Rocky groaned a little, turning his head to the side, bust still didn't wake up. Billy moved to Rocky's leg and pinched his Achilles tendon underneath his gi, causing his eyes to flutter and slowly open. He looked up at the ranger above him and slowly pulled himself up. He mumbled something that the rangers couldn't understand, causing them to exchange worried glances. He mumbled something else then his eyes widened.

"Is it just me or did that skeleton move?" He asked, causing the rangers to laugh, breathing sighs of relief then hauled him to his feet.

"We should go," Avalon said, once he was upright. "It's probably not a good idea to stay here. We don't have a lot of time."

Tommy gave her a sympathetic glance. "I'm sure Bailey's fine," he said to her. "She's strong, she can hold her own."

The orange ranger's right eyebrow slowly hiked upwards before she looked away. "I'm not worried about her, yeah?" She turned on her heel and started to walk away. "Trust me, mate, that's the least of my problems."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Looking at it now I see this adventure ending with chapter 10 and then the rest of the story starts. I'm really excited to see what you guys think of the rest of the journey and how it ends, since it'll be slightly different.

Thanks to _I love power rangers7135, AstroPink3000, Adela, silverhawk88, Ashley, Brankel1, TerraHart, Rose Specktor, and TaitanoRules555 _for reviewing and thanks to those that favorite, alert, or just PM me to give me ideas on my stories, it means a lot.

**~Avalon**


	9. Chapter 9: The Great Power

**Chapter 09**

_The Great Power  
><em>

* * *

><p>Ivan grinned as he watched the parent of Angel Grove continue to dig up the ectomorphicons. They were almost completely unburied, and before any of them knew it, the metallic beings would be up and ready to destroy the city once more. Sitting in his throne, he gripped the edges of his seat, a deep, icy hatred growing in his chest.<p>

He had seen them, the purple ranger and her friends. He knew they didn't have their powers anymore and yet she was still trying to stop him. What was the point of that? Did she not realize there was no way they'd win? Not only would the other rangers not make it to the Great Power—it had never been done before—but she would be dead before they even returned to Earth. Right now it was just a cat and mouse game, something that was giving him a bit of entertainment before he finally had her found and killed.

And then there was Rita, Zedd, and that Sabrina girl back in the chambers of the Lunar Palace. He hadn't needed to go back down to the chambers after having instructed Scorpina and every now and then Goldar, to keep an eye on them. Those two gold monsters were his sniveling followers, blindly leading whomever it was that would take over the Lunar Palace. Even then, with Rito and Goldar by his side, he knew that Scorpina were giving those prisoners some sort of sadistic torture that Ivan would've sat back and watched with a bucket of popcorn on his lap.

It was all so entertaining.

Ivan looked over as Goldar started to walk towards him, his sword raised. Ivan smiled over at him, beady eye alight with fire. "Yes, my dear Golden friend, what is it that you have to tell me?" He asked.

Goldar motioned over towards the construction site. The flood lights had been illuminated as the natural sunlight had started to fade. That was what Ivan had been waiting for; nighttime. Nothing was better than the absence of light and watching how it managed to scare people so much. He, on the other hand, loved the dark and everything in it. The primal fear that tended to come from it was the greatest feeling and knowing that his plan was coming to fruition, with the rangers disappearing for days just made it that much sweeter.

"The construction of your ectomorphicons is now complete," Goldar said committedly. "All that needs to be done is for you to raise them once more."

"Ooh! What fun!" Ivan gripped the edge of his throne and stood up quickly, the breeze from the movement rustling his robes. Bringing a hand up to his chin, he glanced around at the parents of Angel Grove as they stood, staring lifelessly up at him. "Hmm…what should I do with all of these…cretins? It stands to means that their deaths have to be something pleasurable…what would be the most satisfying way to kill them?"

Goldar turned as Rito stalked up to Ivan, wildly swinging his word. "Why don't you let me have a crack at it, boss?" He asked. "I've had a craving for death and destruction since we destroyed the power rangers." He glanced at the men and women below them. "Reducing their bodies to bones…like mine…that would be very therapeutic."

"As interesting as that sounds, I think I might go with something else." Ivan waved him off. "We'll save that for later." He clapped his hands together before addressing the group. "Thank you so very much for finishing my ectomorphicons. But as it is, I am sick and tired of your ugly faces and your dull, dull personalities. I mean, you didn't even try to fight back or anything, just gave up your puny little minds and, frankly, that's just sad. So…I will you to go to the rock quarry…and leap to your demise."

Ivan, Rito, and Goldar watched as the parents of angel grove slowly turned and started to shuffle out of the construction site and Ivan watched with glee. Not only had he managed to take over the city quicker than he thought he would, but he had also managed to remove Zordon and the Power Rangers from existence. Now all he had to do was bring forth the ectomorphicons and start taking over the city.

"If I knew it would be this easy, I would've done it ages ago," Ivan murmured.

"What do you want us to do now, boss?" Rito asked.

Ivan cracked his knuckles, taking a deep breath. "Get to the highest part of the city...and watch the show."

* * *

><p>Billy stepped over a log, being careful not to slow down his friends behind him. He had decided to stick to the front of the group, around Tommy, as they traversed the jungle. Not for the protection, Billy thought he had grown a lot as a ranger and a fighter as the years had gone by, but because he felt that he had moved into the second-in-command position since Jason had left. And with that position came a great sense of responsibility.<p>

Even as they continued to walk through the jungle, every now and then Tommy and Billy have short, mumbled conversations about the courses of action they had taken while getting the Great Power—even Billy couldn't ignore the fact that Tommy appeared to be extremely worried about his decisions as a leader that had resulted in the destruction of their Thunder Zords, but it was also as a means to take his mind off things.

Despite having gotten to the point where he was able to rationally function as well as even get through his mother's death, there was still a part of him that worried he'd never get over it, if not anytime soon. Even when being out in the jungle of Phaedos and working hard to save Zordon and everyone back in Angel Grove, his thoughts always turned back towards the monsters that had murdered her in the means of taking him over just so that they'd be able to take over Angel Grove after having had invaded their school.

Having had to watch Ivan Ooze basically do the same to their zords, as he had come to know lately that their zord weren't just machines, but living creatures that had wanted to protect those that took on the power Zordon bestowed upon them, he wasn't sure he'd be able to take it if they didn't retrieve the Great Power and save the city.

Taking a deep breath, Billy pushed the thoughts out of his head. _It's scientifically sound that terms of affirmations have a chance of changing your mindset, _he reminded himself. _Don't think about the things that happened or things that may go wrong…focus on winning and you'll do so. _And even then, it was easier said than done when he remembered it was his mother that had reminded him to try and always see the positive side of life. _So what's the positive side of what happened to you, Mom? That there were more people saved than lost?_

He was broken out of his thoughts, noticing that Tommy had started to slow down, now moving cautiously through the foliage in front of them. Pushing back a large leaf, the rangers moved through the underbrush. Rocky, being directly behind Billy, gasped as soon as he saw the Monolith that lay in front of them.

"Wow, hey guys, check this out," the red ranger called over his shoulder.

Billy's eyes widened in wonder as he looked around the area Dulcea had explained to them. He had been one of the people that believed that Atlantis was really hidden somewhere on the ocean floor and vowed to be one of the people that would find it, but the idea of that didn't compare to what was lying in front of him. The Monolith was reminiscent to the ruins that they had encountered when first arriving on Phaedos.

A giant rock wall stood in front of them, a waterfall off towards their left side, constantly cascading down into a pool below. On the wall in front of them were four statues and as Billy looked around, there didn't seem to be anyway around the wall. If they didn't receive the Great Power from there, there wouldn't be anything else they could do to save Angel Grove.

"Incredible," Adam said in a low murmur.

Billy nodded his sentiments, his natural curiosity starting to take over his mind. If he had the chance, he would love to be able to study the ruins, to see if there was anything that would give him and idea of what else the Nathadians had done, what their beliefs were, how their society worked. Not only that but to understand what it was that was keeping the Great Power, if it was there, sealed up.

"This would be so cool if it wasn't so ominous looking," Avalon remarked, looking around as well. She placed her hands on her hips as she came to a stop, eyes shifting back and forth as if watching insects buzzing around her face.

"Let's be honest here," Aisha said. "There's probably nothing as ominous looking at this." She looked over at Kimberly, who laughed quietly and nodded in agreement." The pink ranger went over to the waterfall and kneeled down by the pool. She went to take some water in the palm of her hand but Billy, who had watched her, hurried over and grabbed onto her wrist.

At her curious glance, he shook off her hand, droplets falling to the ground. "We don't know if this water is clean or not," he reminded her. Squinting, he looked up the face of the waterfall. "As it is, this might not even be the highest point of Phaedos, who knows what sort of intergalactic bacteria may be hiding in it." Kimberly gasped and quickly pulled her hand back, moving away from the water. "If only I had my lab equipment, I'd love to get a sample."

"Nice to know you priorities are straight, man," Rocky said to him.

"Well, there's a lot even a soil sample can tell us about this place," Billy pointed out. "How advanced the spread of vegetation is…things like that." He scratched his forehead as he turned back to the water, looking at his reflection. When did he become so hard? Shaking his head, he turned back as the white ranger moved closer to the monolith.

The rangers followed his lead, venturing to take a few steps towards it. "So what do you think?" Adam asked. "It doesn't look like its booby trapped or anything."

"I wouldn't count on it, mate," Avalon murmured, gently shaking her head. "There wouldn't be so many skeletons around if it was easy to get to the Great Power."

Tommy nodded at their words. He had thought the same thing. It was too easy for them to have gotten to the monolith and to the Great Power, there had to be something else… Taking a deep breath, the white ranger stepped forward. "Wait here," he instructed. "I'll go check it out."

Billy swallowed thickly, watching with the others as Tommy approached the monolith. He reached out a hand and brought his fingers down over the smooth surface, studying the rock. Then he waited a few seconds for something, anything to happen. Nothing. He turned back to the rangers with a light shrug and Billy's eyes shot by him and back towards the rock wall.

As he watched in disbelief, the rock statue started to move.

"Tommy!" Kimberly screamed out, warning her boyfriend of the imminent danger.

Hearing her cry, the white ranger whipped around just as the Gatekeeper statue came to life, metal plating covering some of its body and a large, deadly sword in its hand. Tommy took a few steps backwards as the sword ripped through the air in front of him, the Gate Keeper swinging his sword back and forth wildly. There was a distinct ripping sound and Tommy let out a cry of pain as drops of blood splattered against the cool, clay floor. Executing a perfect backflip, Tommy rejoined his friends, holding up the front of his robes.

Three massive cut had been ripped into his front, lined with blood. He hissed and fell to his knee, hands pressing against his front. The wound didn't seem to be that deep and with his adrenaline pumping he wasn't in much pain. Hands sliding over the blood, Tommy wiped his palms off on the sided of his outfit.

"Watch out," Billy cried grabbing onto Tommy's arm and pulling him back as the four Gate Keepers peeled themselves away from the wall and jumped to the floor.

"Told you," Avalon said, falling into a fighting stance, the other rangers doing the same. They all started to shift backwards as the Gate Keepers advanced upon them. They looked to be very strong, even stronger than the other monsters they faced and deadly, if judging by the gashes on the front of Tommy's clothes.

"What now?" Kim asked.

"Ninjetti," Tommy replied. "The Falcon!"

"The Tiger!"

"The Frog!"

"The Crane!"

"The Wolf!"

"The Bear!"

"The Ape!"

Aisha finished ducked out of the way as one of the Gate Keeper flew overhead, trying to strike her. , striking her pose. She rolled out of the way and the She rolled out of the way before the weapon could hit her. Using her newfound powers, she crouched low on the ground as the Gate Keeper kicked at her, and swung out her foot in a judo sweep, knocking it to the ground.

Adam leapt forward and did a spin kick against a Gate Keeper and struck it in the face. He cried out as pain went shooting up his foot and quickly backed away, partially limping. He watched in horror as the Gate Keeper continued upon him, not even fazed by the attack. "Whoa, these things are made of rock." Adam said just as the orange ranger leapt to Adam's side and brought her fist back, winding it up.

She drove her fist forward and cracked the Gate Keeper right in the face, using her ninjetti power of strength, causing it to fly back. She then squealed in pain, shaking out her hand. "I wish you told me that sooner," she snapped. She bent back out of the way as another Gate Keeper swung an ax towards her then used her legs to grab the Gate Keeper around the neck and fling it to the ground.

Billy steadied himself and kicked at the Gate Keeper that was in front of him. The Gate Keeper anticipated the move and grabbed onto Billy's foot and twisted it, sending him to the ground. There was a loud cracking sound and Billy shouted in pain, briefly closing his eyes. When he opened them, he spotted the Gate Keeper swinging its spiked weapon down towards his head and he quickly did a kick-up out of the way of the blow. Twisting around, he watched as the Gate Keeper advanced towards him once more. These guys are strong." Billy said. _We're going to have to try a different tactic to get rid of them._

Across the clearing, a Gate Keeper was attacking Kim. She would've been attacking back, even with the new power she had learned in her training, but something was wrong. She felt lightheaded and dizzy once more, just like when he had been forced to run from the skeleton monster. _What was it that Dulcea had said? _She tried to remind herself. _The ninjetti power has always been inside us with our spirit animal? _She couldn't make sense of it other than it having to do with her truly being weaker than the other rangers; they didn't appear to have the same problem and continued to fight just as hard as ever.

Snapping back to attention, Kimberly saw that the Gate Keeper was about to strike her and she did a quick back flip, landing on an edge a few feet above her. The Gate Keeper tried to stab her with its sword, but she leapt aside to avoid it, falling to the ground. Letting out a grunt, Kimberly saw star explode in front of her eyes. _You're stronger than this, Kim. You can do it. _And yet, she felt the energy draining from her. The ninjetti powers were taking away from her life force; she didn't have enough of her own power to keep it up.

Twisting around, she saw that the Gate Keeper had noticed her fall and had then come up behind her for the kill. It was almost upon her, crazily swinging the sword above its head, an almost evil laugh coming from it. Kimberly quickly got to her feet and started to run up the slope. She spotted a ledge above her and reached for the vine that rested along the outer edge, but it broke off in her hand.

The Gate Keeper swung his sword towards her and Kimberly started to roll to the side. She moved too slow, however, and received a blow to her shoulder. Her scream was muffled as she bit her lip, bringing her hand up to her shoulder. Feebly, Kim kicked at the Gate Keeper's chest, knocking it back a few steps. She got to her feet and continued to scramble up the rocks until she found a giant boulder and started to push on it. "Come on, Kim, you can do this." She pushed the rock with all her might but it just wouldn't budge.

The Gate Keeper swung at her but the sword cracked against the rock, causing her to scream and duck her head back once more.

Tommy, who had immediately soared high up onto the canopy as the fight started, noticed that his girlfriend was in trouble. Abandoning his search for an open spot to jump into the fight, he soared over to another three that was closest to him and grabbed onto a vine that hung nearby. "Just remember that you don't really have wings and crashing into the ground will hurt," he murmured to himself before backing up and leaping off the side of the branch, the vine swinging him forward.

Wind whistled by his ears as he soared over towards his girlfriend. "Hang on Kimberly!" He called. He landed cleanly on the rock ledge beside her and grabbed a nearby stick. "You can do this, I'll help you push," he said to her. Kimberly looked over at Tommy with a nod and started to push harder. Her combined effort with the leverage from the rock pushed the Gate Keeper down the slippery slope until it landed at the bottom, the boulder crushing it sending tiny piece of rock all over the place.

"Good job, Kim," Tommy congratulated her, watching the aftermath.

Trying to catch her breath, Kimberly could only nod.

Down below, Rocky was fighting one of the remaining Gate Keepers, backing away from it attack as it continued to converge upon him and he found himself at the edge of the pool beneath the waterfall. Hi arms flailed as he bent backwards out of the way of an attack from the Gate Keeper. The Gate Keeper roared and lunged forward, just as Aisha flew out of nowhere and kicked the Gate Keeper back away from Rocky. This gave the red ranger the chance to flip out of the corner and give the Gate Keeper a kick along the side of its face as well.

Aisha backed away from the Gate Keeper just as it turned to fight her and she stumbled on loose rock, falling over onto her back. In a second she was back up and rolling away to gain traction before kicking it with a cry of, "Back off bolder breath."

Rocky then noticed that Adam was in trouble and hurried to the closest vine he could find and used the powers from his training to scale up it in a matter of seconds. The black ranger continued to race along a rock wall a few feet from where Kimberly and Tommy had been, doing his best to keep the Gate Keeper from getting to him. Seeing that he had an opening, Adam dove forward between the Gate Keeper's legs.

Just as he got out of the way, Rocky, who had managed to get above the fighting duo, jumped off of the high cliff, hoping to land atop the Gate Keeper. But the Gate Keeper was just out of the red ranger's reach and Rocky rolled off the back of the Gate Keeper and towards the side of the cliff. At the last second the red ranger grabbed onto the vine to steady himself from falling.

"Adam!" Rocky called.

"Hang on, Rocky." Adam yelled back, fighting off the Gate Keeper.

Avalon twisted out of the way of the Gate Keeper that had come after her and spotted Rocky and Adam on the ledge. She raced off towards them, getting up the rocky cliffs in a matter of seconds. She raced up to the Gate Keeper and with a flying leap, kicked it in the back, giving Adam enough time to grab onto Rocky's wrists and start to pull him up from the ledge.

The Gate Keeper and the orange ranger spun around in circles as they traded and sneaked away from blows the two gave. She rolled forward in a somersault and when coming out of it, pressed her hands against a large rock in front of her and propelled herself backwards. Flipping in mid-air she kicked the Gate Keeper in the face, lashing out with her feet. Once landing the Gate Keeper swiped at her and she ducked out of the way, right into the Gate Keeper's grasp. It grabbed onto her and raised her over his head before throwing her, screaming, off of the face of the cliff.

"Av!" Rocky called, watching her fall.

Billy, who had teamed up with Aisha to fight off a Gate Keeper heard the yell and raced over towards his fallen friend. He kneeled down, arms out stretched, and caught her in his arms, carefully cradling her against his body. "Gotcha."

Avalon looked up at him with a smile he was sure was under her mask, gaze lingering for a moment. "Perfect timing as always, Billy," she remarked gratefully as he set her down. "Thanks." She finally looked away from him, eyes moving around the clearing. "There has to be something that'll get rid of these boofheads."

"We're just going to have to keep trying," Billy said.

With the Gate Keeper's attention on the orange ranger, Adam finally lifted Rocky back up onto the rock ledge. "Hey, Lava Head." Once the Gate Keeper turned towards the red and black rangers, the two did a spinning kick and knocked the Gate Keeper off of the ledge and into the pond below.

The two looked down, watching as a cloud of steam rose from the water below.

"If I knew it was going to be that easy, I would've taken the Gate Keeper for a swim with me," Rocky remarked, causing Adam to laugh. Then Rocky frowned, watching as Aisha was backed across the clearing, granted to be cornered against one of the back walls. He patted Adam on the shoulder before leaping down the rock wall towards her.

Aisha found she was trapped with no way out as the Gate Keeper continuously swung its ax at her, to giving her a chance to break free. She was backed up until she tucked herself inside a cave. Lowering her hands, Aisha pressed her hands against the walls, trying to take the time to catch her breath. Something smooth slid under her fingers and she turned to the side before jolting back in horror at the skeleton that had been shoved in there.

Seconds later rocks hit her face and she turned back in time to see the Gate Keeper poking its ax into the opening of the cave towards her. "Somebody help!" She yelled.

The red ranger sprinted across the clearing and kicked the Gate Keeper in its back, knocking it forward into the cave wall before it turned back in fury, eyes locked on the red ranger. It growled dangerously and Rocky quickly back flipped out of its reach.

He continued to do cartwheels and flips out of the way of the blows that were aimed for him until the Gate Keeper threw its ax towards him. Rocky's eyes widened as he saw the projectile coming towards him and quickly jumped as high as he could, spreading out his legs and pressing his feet against the trunks on either side of him. There was a whooshing sound and a 'thwack' and when Rocky looked down he paled at the site of the projectile embedded itself into the wood behind him, inches away from his groin.

The red ranger's shoulders slumped in relief. "That was close," he breathed.

Sensing an opening, Billy scaled up the rock ledge and jumped into the canopy. He found a large log suspended in the air with vines surrounding it and quickly jumped on. Glancing towards the ground he found Adam, Rocky, Avalon, and Aisha fighting off two of the remaining Gate Keepers. Looking around, the blue ranger spotted another vine and did a quick mental calculation of distance and angles and grabbed onto the end of one. He pulled hard and watched as the other end fell towards the Gate Keeper.

The Gate Keeper continued to attack Adam, trying to corner him. Avalon cart wheeled over and kicked the Gate Keeper, making it back up towards the vine. Adam noticed the vine at the same time and did a running start, jumped towards it as well. He landed on top of the Gate Keeper, crouching like a frog, and reached out, grabbing onto the vine. As the Gate Keeper thrashed underneath him, Adam pulled down the vine and tied it around the Gate Keeper's neck.

"Adam!" Billy caught the black ranger's attention and leaned back, his weight pulling him towards the ground. The black ranger quickly jumped out of the way and the orange ranger moved forward and brought her feet into the groin of the Gate Keeper, lifting it off its feet. The sudden movement combined with Billy's weight pulled the Gate Keeper into the air. It thrashed around, its weapon falling to the ground below, and pulled its hands up to its neck, trying to break free.

The Gate Keeper continued to twist back and forth until there was a loud cracking sound. Billy, Adam, and Avalon backed out of the way as they watched the body of the Gate Keeper plummet to the ground, its head still wrapped up in vines. Billy watched as the body hit the ground and cracked into piece with a sense of satisfaction. It was a rush, really, to be that strong, to have been able to defeat something in the similar manner his mother had been. It was cathartic in a way he hadn't have thought he would ever feel. _Now to get to Ivan, Rita, and Zedd._

With the remaining Gate Keeper, Aisha raced up to it and kicked it in the head. Rocky then kicked it backwards away from the group. High in the canopy, Tommy signaled over towards Kimberly, who waited for her signal, holding onto a vine. "Ready?"

"You got it." Kimberly nodded.

"Go!" Tommy yelled.

Kimberly jumped down from her place on the ledge and swung forward. When she hit the right height she let go of the vine and soared forward, striking the Gate Keeper in the chest. She then backed out of the way for Tommy to make the final move.

"Ninjetti Corkscrew Kick!" The white ranger leapt off of the ledge he had been standing on and soared over towards the Gate Keeper. Swinging his arms back, he brought them forward and started to spin in a tight circle, heading towards the Gate Keeper. He struck the Gate Keeper in the chest with so much force that it flew back and crashed into the wall behind it. "Eightball corner pocket."

The Gate Keeper exploded upon impact and a seismic ripple tore through the surrounding area, causing the rangers to stumble. As they watched, a large panel on the wall of the monolith opened, revealing a bright light.

"What now?" Rock asked..

"Whoa." Kimberly stumbled and fell to the ground but was pulled up by Avalon a few seconds later. "What's happening?"

"Look!" Billy regained his footing and pointed over towards the panel of the monolith as the light continued to get brighter and brighter. "

A pyramid shaped rock formation came out of the wall, bathed in the white light. In a large circle on the front of the monolith was a picture of a Falcon, Crane, Wolf, Tiger, Lion, Bear, Ape, and Frog all in formations of ferocity. The rangers watched in awe as the monolith continued to move towards them, slowing to a stop.

"The Great Power," Avalon breathed.

"The Sacred Animals." Billy said. He looked over at Tommy and the two nodded before leading the group to the monolith. "We have to focus on the power…for 20 triacs," he reminded them. The rangers nodded back and they all moved into a circle around the monolith and lifted their hands, pressing the palms of their hands together.

The power of their sacred animals, of the ninjetti power, ripped through their bodies. It grew in strength as the seconds passed and as the ranger watched, the light faded in the monolith, now coming from the front of the pyramid structure. It increased in brightness as wisps in different colors started to emanate from the light. The rangers continued to watch, lowering their arm as the wisps turned into the forms of the sacred animals and started to sweep around the respective ranger.

Finally, after a few moments of circling around, the images of the sacred animals shot towards the symbols on the animals on the front of their outfits, erupting the area in a bright light, causing the rangers to close their eyes. When the light faded, the rangers lowered their hands, finding they were now back in their suits, now holding the insignia of their sacred animals.

"We did it!" Aisha yelled.

"Our morphers are online," Billy said. He let out an incredulous laugh. They did it, they actually did it. They traversed to a distant planet in search for something that had been a myth and actually found it.

"We got the power!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Alright." Kimberly gave Tommy a high-five.

"Hang on Zordon," Rocky said.

"We're on our way," Adam added.

"Let's do this," Avalon said. She closed her hand around the lion power coin and placed it in the holster where her blade blaster sat, for safe keeping then, following her friends' lead touched her power morpher that hung off the front of her suit and teleported.

Now it was time to defeat Ivan.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **This was fun to write, the next chapter ends the whole thing and then there are new twist and turns along the way as the rangers head towards receiving their Zeo powers. I have some great ideas for what the rangers will go through as it gets there, so I hope you guys are ready to see it.

Thanks to _Adela, I lover power rangers7135, AstroPink3000, hearpunker123, TaitanoRules555, Son of Whitebeard, TerraHart, brankel1, Ashley, and Rose Specktor_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	10. Chapter 10: Dreams

**Chapter 10**

_Dreams_

* * *

><p>Alpha had teleported Bailey, Fred, Bulk, and Skull Back to Ernie's and they watched in fascination and horror as kids and teenagers streamed in and out of the Youth Center and up and down the street. They screamed like banshees and caused havoc everywhere they went; swinging baseball bats and throwing things. Papers were strewn all over the street, windows and headlights on the cars were knocked out, some teenagers were fighting in the street, and little kids ran by with large pillow cases filled with numerous candies.<p>

Bailey jumped back out of the way as a tall teenage boy raced by, spraying something out of the top of a can. Judging by its spray, it appeared to be soda, however as she leaned over and glanced at the wet spot on the ground, she realized it was, in fact, Ooze.

"Looks like Ivan's reaching out even further, yeah?" She remarked. "Not only did he have the Ooze in general as things kids would play with, seems like he's changed it to something he can ingest."

"No," Fred contradicted. "Not ingest, it still Ooze, you can't drink it. He just came up with different ways for people to come in contact with it. If it's loaded into a can like silly string, what better way for kids to get at it?" He shrugged before pulling off his hat and running a hand through his hair."

"Bulkie and I'll do our best to try and get some order around here," Skull said, patting Bulk on the shoulder. "Maybe once they see that some police officers are trying to keep the streets safe, they'll realize what idiots they're being."

"Yeah, hopefully they don't do too much more damage." Bulk pulled out his nightstick and started to head towards Ernie. He and Bulk blocked off Fred and Bailey to keep them from getting hit by the flying food and ooze that nearly hit them as soon as they stepped foot through the door. Their mouths dropped open as they saw the destruction that had befallen the youth center.

"I wonder where Ernie is," Bailey murmured, shaking her head. "If he saw what happened to his store…"

"Considering there doesn't seem to be _anyone _that's trying to stop them, I'd think that he got stuck with some of that Ooze," Skull remarked. He looked over at Bulk and the two nodded before heading out into the fray for crowd control. Fred and Bailey watched as they pulled kids clinging to the support poles off and back onto the ground, handcuffed a few to chairs as they started to get a little bit too rowdy, and even Skull having gone as far as to tackle an unruly kid to the ground as he had started to spray a fire extinguisher around.

The purple ranger chewed her bottom lip as she looked around at the mess. There had to be something that would break them out of Ivan's control. There was always a weakness to something; it was just a matter of finding it. However at the present moment in time, it seemed that they were at a rave where the only thing that would break it up—the cops—wasn't working.

Fred glanced around at the mess, gently shaking his head. He tried to shout over them, waving his arms over his head as he did his best to get their attention. But the kids continued to run around, rampaging like they had never done before. The lack of mind control for the adults must have been a lack of inhibition seen in the kids under Ivan's spell. _As soon as the adults are gone, they can finally do everything they were never allowed to do before, _he realized. Frustrated, he glanced over the group of kids before standing up on a table and shouting to try and get their attention. He turned back to the purple ranger. "It's not working; they're not listening to me!" He cried.

"Keep trying, Fred," Bailey shouted back. She lowered her head and placed her fingertips on her temples. _Think, Bailey, think. You're taking it in as a complex situation; break it down so that it's easier. _She switched gears, thinking about the situation chemically as opposed to situationally. _There's always something that will loosen the hold on chemical prospects. Nail polish and other adhesive substances can be removed by alcohol. Liquid stains are always able to me taken out of fabrics by the Bentinite which is a natural absorbent. The means of getting rid of chemical spills are…a chemical wash! _She gasped loudly, eyes flying wide open as the revelation came to her.

Of course, how could she have not seen it before? Of course they didn't have an actual chemical wash, that would probably cause a lot of liability issues in the long run, but there had to be a fire alarm somewhere. The purple ranger spotted it on the wall and did a little jump before hurrying over to the far wall, lifting the glass that covered the emergency item and pulled.

A piercing siren blared seconds before the room was filled with a torrential downpour. The kids and teenagers all screamed and shrieked in surprise before covering their heads. The purple ranger watched as the ooze washed away from the kids and they seemed to be broken out of their spell. Grinning, Bailey turned and gave Fred a double thumbs up, which he returned with one of his own before whistling once more.

Now he had a captivated—albeit confused—audience at his feet.

"Listen," he called. "Everyone listen up!" He gestured around the Juice Bar, at the devastation that had been created while they had been under Ivan's control. "You all think this is some big party, don't you?" He rolled his eyes at the unanimous answer of affirmation. "Well you've all been brainwashed. Ivan's taking over the planet, and he's using all of us in his plans. And he's got our parents"

There was a low murmur that went around the room. Fred's eyes scanned over the faces of the kids that were in front of him. He couldn't get a good reading on whether or not they believed him. Some appeared skeptical while others appeared worried. They looked around the juice bar and down at their own hands as if they couldn't believe they would've done something like that.

However, one of the kids that Bulk had handcuffed to a chair loudly called out, "What are you talking about?" He shifted back and forth, trying to break free. "And why did you handcuff me? Let me go already!"

Skull shook his head, waving his nightstick at the guy. "Sorry, bud, we can't do that."

"Look, Ivan Ooze is evil," Fred continued. "And if you don't come with me _right now_, our parents are going to die! Ivan has them under his trance, after doing their dirty work he's ordered them to jump off the cliff at the rock quarry." He exclaimed before groaning in frustration, noticing the increasing looks of disbelief on the faces in front of him. "You gotta believe me!"

"Hey!" Bailey hurried over to Fred's side. "He's telling the truth. Ivan Ooze, under the guise of that ooze that he gave you all earlier…he has some sort of magical powers that put you and our parents in a trance. And if we don't stop him, the city is going to be destroyed by his monsters."

"There's more monsters running around?" a girl called.

"This is Angel Grove, there're _always _monsters running around," a guy called back.

Bailey shook her head. "This is different. The ectomorphicons have the means to completely destroy the city and if we don't go now—"She was cut off by a low quake rumbling through the room, nearly knocking her off her feet. Fred grabbed onto her arm and steadied her before jumping to the ground. The two blasted out of the Youth Center, followed by Bulk, Skull, and a group of kids.

She skidded to a stop, gasping, when she spotted a metal monster in the distance, walking through the city. It brought back an arm and swung it towards a building and the group watched, wincing as they heard the sound of glass cracking and dropping seconds before sirens started to wail, the familiar sound t the residents of Angel Grove who knew to follow the emergency evacuation plan as quickly as possible.

"You were telling the truth?" A kid asked.

"What about my Mom and Dad?"

"What are we going to do?"

"Don't panic!" Skull called loudly, voice drifting over the group of now panicked kids. "We have a plan." He turned to Bulk, Fred, and Bailey, lowering his voice. "Please tell me you have a plan."

"Sort of," Bailey fibbed. _Buy as much time for Tommy and the others to come back. _She cleared her throat. "First thing we're going to do is find the adults and stop them from going over the side of that quarry."

Fred nodded. "We'll take the monorail; it'll be the quickest way to get there." He turned back to Bulk and Skull. "Can you get us there in the cruiser?" Bulk gave him a pained look and pointed over towards the car that now had dents and fractures all along its body. The young boy grimaced and turned back to the purple ranger. "Looks like we're going to run."

"Looks like it." She looked at the group behind them and got ready to call towards them, then stopped, slowly smiling as she spotted an array of rainbow colors streaking across the sky towards downtown Angel Grove. They could hold off the monsters long enough so that they could find a way to save the adults. _Good luck, guys._

She waved a hand to the group and with her and Fred leading the charge, started to run towards the monorail.

* * *

><p>Ivan stood on the balcony of the highest point of Angel Grove, the Needle Eye Watch Tower, one of the biggest tourist attractions of the city. He trailed his nails along the railing of the tower as he watched his Ectomorphicons start to destroy the city. He took in a long, deep breath through his nose, releasing it with an almost erotic sigh.<p>

"I love the smell of destruction in the evening," he said in a slow murmur.

"Me too." Goldar said, laughing. He thrust his sword high into the air, cheering loudly as Scorpitron and Hornitor started their destruction. Rito stood in the back of the tower, watching the two but not saying anything otherwise, gently running his bony fingertips down along his bone sword. Even from where they were standing they could hear the sound of the scared Angel Grove residents screaming in fear.

Ivan took in another deep breath, but this time as he let it out, it turned into a cough of indignation when he spotted the multi-colored streaks zoom across the sky. His eyes were now ablaze with fury as he grabbed onto the railing of the tower. "NO!" He bellowed. "Impossible. The Great Power…it was a myth!" He yelled so loudly that Goldar shrank back away from him.

He had never seen anyone come to the viciousness that Zedd had always managed, but this was close. He turned his gaze to the colorful streaks as they landed on the ground far below and for the first time hoped they would win.

The rangers landed in the middle of the destroyed road. Shock and confusion graced their features as they looked around the destruction. Papers from the nearby office building fluttered in the light breeze, the area around them completely empty.

"Oh man," Tommy breathed. He gently shook his head as he looked around. "Look at this place!" He lifted his arms and dropped them back down to his sides.

"This is definitely Ivan's handy work," Rocky said.

"Looks like the emergency evacuation system went off without a hitch," Avalon added. "At least that's a good thing, yeah?"

Adam started to speak but was cut off as the ground suddenly shook, nearly knocking the rangers to the ground. He whipped around, trying to find the source of the noise, but didn't find anything. The ground shook once more, this time knocking them over.

"What was that?" Billy asked.

Aisha, kneeling on the ground, caught sight of the silvery, metallic monster and gaped at it with wide eyes, hidden behind her helmet. She lifted a hand and pointed. "I think were about to find out, look!"

The rangers followed her gaze and spotted a monster that resembled a Hornet moving towards them. The pincers by its mouth clanged open and shut, sending deafening booms in the air around them. It locked its eyes on the rangers and tilted it head to the side before leaning closer as if studying them.

"Whoa what is that thing?" Kimberly asked.

"Looks like Ivan's been busy while we were away." Tommy muttered.

"I think it's one of those ectomorphicon Zordon was talking about, Bro," Avalon said. Before any of the rangers could say anything else, Hornitor turned and shot a blast of laser like energy out towards a nearby car. The rangers shrank back, shielding their faces as the rush of fire streaked towards the sky in a brilliant plume.

Hearing another sound behind them, the rangers whipped around, spotting the companion ectomorphicon, Scorpitron. It scuttled along the ground for a few feet before shooting out a blast of laser like energy as well, but this one coming from its tail. It destroyed another car, causing the rangers to instinctively take a step back.

"Oh, this one's even uglier." Kimberly said.

Tommy nodded then turned to his friends. "We've gotta stop these things," he declared. "For Zordon and for Angel Grove. We went to Phaedos looking for something we didn't think existed, but now we have it. We've got the new Ninja Zords, let's use them."

"Right!" His friends replied.

"Ninja Crane Zord!"

"Ninja Wolf Zord!"

"Ninja Tiger Zord!"

"Ninja Frog Zord!"

"Ninja Ape Zord!"

"Ninja Bear Zord!"

"Ninja Falcon Zord!"

The rangers then grabbed onto their power morphers and held them out towards each other. Beams of light zoomed from the power coins that lay nestled inside the morphers and hot out towards the sky. The rangers watched as the light dissipated and the zords came out from their hiding places, answering the call for them.

As the zords passed by the watch tower, Ivan didn't appear concerned. In fact, compared to how angry he had been before, Ivan seemed to be taking a stroll in the park. He waved his hand, dismissing the situation as Goldar cried his fury of the zords being released. "No need to worry, Goldar. My ectomorphicons had destroyed many a race and planets. They'll crush the power rangers like little roaches, leaving behind multi-colored piles of spandex, gore, blood, and bone." He rubbed his hands together. "I can't wait."

Back on the ground, the rangers watched as their ninja zords approached then all leapt into the cockpits of their zords. Tommy piloted his zord low over the building of downtown Los Angeles and directed it towards Scorpitron. "All right guys, I'm over the east quadrant and heading straight for the scorpion," he explained. He pressed a few buttons in his control panel and flipped open the top of his joystick and pressed the red button sitting at the top. "Rockets away!"

The Flacon zord swung upwards and brought its wings together as rockets appeared at the wing tips. As Tommy pressed the button, the rockets engaged, flying out of the zord and shooting towards Scorpitron. The scorpion monster scuttled aside and towards the Scorpitron, barely hitting it. The Scorpitron then aimed its stinger towards Tommy and started to blast towards it. Tommy expertly maneuvered the zord out of the way while, below, Avalon's tiger zord started towards Scorpitron and lunged at it knocking it aside with a quick blast of its paw.

The blow knocked Scorpitron aside and as it fell, it blasted out another beam of energy that shot into the wing of Tommy's falcon zord. "I've been hit. I'm pulling out," Tommy said, pulling up and soaring out of the way. He passed by Adam as the frog zord jumped towards Avalon and Scorpitron.

"Sorry about that, Bro, I thought I had a good shot," Avalon quickly apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Sis," Tommy replied quickly. "You did good, great thinking on coming up on its other side." He soared out of the way to take stock of the damage on his zord and Adam moved to take his place.

"Frog Zord is on its way," Adam said. He searched through his control panel and grabbed onto a lever, pulling it hard. The mouth of the Frog Zord opened and a long whip shot out of its mouth, wrapping around Scorpitron's neck. Adam grinned as he watched the scorpion monster tried to pull back, feeling the strength through his hand holds and pulled back just as hard.

The two continued their game of tug-of-war for a bit before Adam soon grew tired and slammed his fist onto a button directly to his left. He watched as an electric wave shot up through the length of the whip and crashed into Scorpitron. It twisted back and forth for a moment, as if in pain and shot a blast of energy back towards Adam, hitting the frog zord directly in the face of the zord. The black ranger winced as the windshield cracked but still held.

"You're gonna pay for that one man," Adam murmured.

Billy hurried his zord from around a corner block and headed towards Scorpitron. Avalon's tiger zord had gotten back to its feet at that point and backed away as her sensors showed her that Billy was approached. The blue wolf zord slowly stalked towards Scorpitron as Adam continued to play tug-of-war. "Heads up, Adam. I'm loading hydraulics on the wolf zord," the blue ranger said. He then put his zord in front of Avalon's. "Hey, why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"Is that supposed to be a 'short' joke?" Avalon demanded.

Billy chuckled in reply. After a moment of loading the springs on the zord, Billy pulled back on his handhelds and the spring-loaded hind feet of the zord and shot towards Scorpitron. The wolf's teeth clamped down on the tail of the scorpion and he hung there, frantically shaking its head back and forth trying to break off the tail from the zord.

A few block away, Aisha converged upon Hornitor, taking it in her sights. She pressed a few buttons and loaded up the bear zord, bringing it to its hind feet. "Time to boogie with the bear," she murmured. The zord landed back on its feet and raced forward, crashing into Hornitor, causing it to stumble back. The bear zord then backed up and came up on its hind legs once more, swinging its paw at Hornitor's face.

Hornitor made a squeaking sound and turned back to the bear zord, practically glaring at it. As the bear zord stood on its hind legs, the bellow exposed, Hornitor shot a blast towards its stomach. The yellow ranger let out a gasp of surprise as the shockwave of the blast knocked her back into her seat. The bear zord flew off its feet and crashed into a building behind her before falling over. "I've been hit hard," he called.

"Hang on, 'Sha, I'm on my way," Rocky replied. He directed the Ape zord to scale the side of a building so that he could get a greater vantage point from the top. Once he arrived at the roof he peered over the edge and watched as Aisha continued to bravely fight off the hornet monster. "Ape Zord locked on target," Rocky said. He made sure that the crosshairs on his screen held onto Hornitor before leaping below and landing on Hornitor's back. The hornet monster started to twist back and forth, trying to knock him off, giving Aisha the opening to get back to her feet. She maneuvered the bear zord around and started to attack with straight blows from its paws and a few shots from its teeth as well.

Kimberly in her Crane zord decided to straight for their target, Ivan and zoomed up towards the watch tower. Her upper lip curled in disgust as she spotted Ivan watching the fight along with Goldar and Rito, two of the three monsters that had destroyed their zords, their Command Center, and gravely hurt Zordon all in one fell swoop. They weren't going down without a fight.

"Alright guys, I got a lock on the Oozeman," She told her friends, soaring through the skies as quick as lightning. She headed directly towards Ivan and got her zord ready to send out canon blasts towards him.

Ivan smirked as he looked up towards the skies, watching the pink ranger approach. He slowly ran his tongue over his sharp teeth. "Ah, here comes the cute little pink ranger to the rescue," he drawled, almost maliciously.

Goldar glanced at him then snorted before crossing his arms. "She's already spoken for," he commented. Ivan gave him a curious glance. "Zedd has a dibs on her, plans…"

Ivan sucked in a deep breath, chest rising ominously. "Do you see Zedd here? That pulsating mutant isn't in charge anymore, I am! And if you don't know what's good for you, you'll end up with the rest of them!" He turned back to Rito, who continued to watch the two quietly. "Do you hear that?"

Rito merely glared back at him.

Ivan turned and glared back at the pink ranger, his scowl deepening. He lifted his hand and shot a bolt of electricity out at her, and her Crane zord immediately stopped short, not moving forward nor backwards. Ivan started to laugh evilly as the zord continued to freeze in mid-air. He moved his hand back and forth and the Crane zord followed it. Inside the cockpit, the pink ranger was slammed back and forth as her zord was flung around.

She pulled hard on the joystick in front of her but found that she couldn't move the zord in the ways she wanted to. "Ooze has me in some electromagnet deadlock, I can't break free!" She cried, already starting to panic.

"Hang on Kimberly!" Tommy's voice came over the speakers.

She continued to struggle with control over the zord, trying to block out the sound of Ivan's cruel laughter. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the temperature inside the zord rapidly increased. Warning bells and klaxons started to go off inside her Zord. Ivan was burning her form the inside out! "I'm burning up in here!" she yelled.

Now the yellow ranger's voice came over the speakers via the communication system. "Kimberly use your thrusters!"

A wave of relief crashed over Kimberly and she nodded, regaining control. "Right, right," she said. She let out a deep breath and started to press buttons along the unfamiliar face of the Crane zord. "Now which button?" All of a sudden she heard the Crane's cry from deep inside her. Not a cry of sadness or despair, but one that made Kimberly feel she could do anything she put her mind to. An image of the correct button appeared in her head and the pink ranger smiled. _Thanks Crane zord, _she thought before pressing it firmly.

Kimberly was slammed back in her seat as the thrusters on her zord kicked on and she was shot forward, out of Ivan's grasp and through the sky.

"Blast it!" Ivan growled, lowering his hand. He watched as the rangers continued to fight his ectomorphicons, a scary thought entering his head.

The rangers might actually win.

Adam's hands trembled as he held onto the control for the frog zord as hard as he could. Scorpitron was putting up a better fight than he thought was possible. Billy, on the other hand felt he was about to puke at any moment as Scorpitron continued to lash its tail back and forth. However, he knew if he let go of the monster it would give the ectomorphicon the better chance to get at Adam. It was the extra weight holding the ectomorphicon back that was doing his best to get to the frog zord.

Billy let out a cry of surprise as he suddenly felt weightless. And as the streets of Angel Grove whizzed by, he came aware that the tail of Scorpitron had finally broke apart and he went flying back away from the ectomorphicon. His zord suddenly came to a stop before falling heavily to its side. It was then nudged back to his feet by the tiger zord.

"You okay?" Avalon called.

"I'm good," Billy replied. "Thanks, Ava."

"No worries."

"I'm losing my grip, I can't hold on much longer," Adam said.

"Disengage!" Tommy directed. "I'm coming back in to try again." He flew over the top of Scorpitron and readied his zord to fire off the rockets once more. Avalon came up on the other side of Scorpitron and the tiger zord's tail moved straight up and created a canon at the tip of the tail.

"Fire!" Tommy cried and the two zords shot out their weapons and it crashed into Scorpitron, immediately incinerating it.

The rangers cheered as steaming piles of metal crashed to the ground around them, what was left of the Scorpitron ectomorphicon. The white ranger grinned behind his helmet as he slowly brought his zord over towards the remaining; Hornitor. "Good job, guys," Tommy said appreciatively as he landed on the ground. Now let's go get the other one."

He and the rangers arrived just as Hornitor knocked Rocky off his back and sent him scraping against the ground. The bear zord stood atop of the ape zord, shielding it as Hornitor moved closer towards them.

Ivan glared down at the rangers as he watched the flames subside. No. Not again. He wasn't going to allow himself to be defeated again. He only just got resurrected; he couldn't be taken back down that easily. "Those power brats are going to wish they never met me. The last color they shall see is purple as I rule over this God forsaken world!" His growl was suddenly transformed into a scream of fury as blinding pain seared through his back.

He fell to his knees and turned around to see Rito standing behind him, still holding onto the handle of his sword, the other side shoved straight through Ivan's shoulder. Dark purple ooze dripped from the wound and as Ivan twisted towards him, pain continued to twist into the wound.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded.

Rito's empty eye sockets glared at Ivan with the coldest, utmost fury. "Doing what I should've done when you first took over."

Ivan lifted his free hand and shot a blast of electricity at Rito and caught him straight in the chest, knocking him backwards. The movement caused the sword to be pulled back out of the wound, causing Ivan to scream in pain once more. The purple monster fell to his hands and knees and took a few deep breaths, trying to work through it. He turned towards Goldar.

"Do you have anything to add?"

The golden monster shook his head.

"Good!" Ivan lowered his head and started to stretch himself down from the tower and into Hornitor. As the seconds massed, the ectomorphicon grew bigger, taking on Ivan's body. Finally, Hornitor stood straight up, towering over the ranger and their zords. Hornitor's face was replaced with Ivan's and he glanced at the rangers before tearing off the watch tower he, Goldar, and Rito had occupied before and spun it in his hands.

He couldn't care less about the monsters that may nor may not still be on the tower. No, he just needed to get rid of the rangers. He slowly started to walk towards the ranger, stepping on and breaking the monorail track as he did so.

"Uh, I don't like the looks of this," Rocky stated.

"Neither do I," Tommy agreed. "We need Ninja Megazord Power, now!"

"Ninja Megazord, Power Up!"

"Guys, The monorails in trouble, I'll complete the sequence later," Tommy said before flying off.

"Go Tommy, we can take care of Ivan," Kimberly replied to her boyfriend, his absence immediately putting her in the second-in-command position.

The Crane, Wolf, Bear, Ape, Tiger, and Frog zords combined to create the Ninja Megazord. "Ninja Battle mode, now!" The six said in unison. "Power Sword, now!"

The power sword appeared in the Ninja Megazord's hand just as Ivan raced forward and slashed at them with his own weapon.

* * *

><p>Bailey followed Fred, leaping over the abandoned turntable of the monorail and climbed into the first car of the monorail with Bulk and Skull following close behind. All the kids are running, trying to go save their parents.<p>

Fred looked over the control over the monorail, chewing his lower lip, before pressing the button that seemed that it would be the button that would get the monorail started. He let out a breath of relief when the monorail slowly started forward, pulling out of the station. As the monorail continued one, the group looked out the windows, watching as the rangers fought Ivan.

"What is that thing?" A kid asked.

"Who cares? The power rangers are here to help."

_I hope they can do it, _Bailey thought. _We don't have much time left. _She turned back towards the monorail track and squinted her eyes as she looked further down the track. There was something off with it and when she saw a spark of electricity, she immediately knew what it was. "The track's broken!" She gasped. "Ivan must've knocked it out while trying to get to the rangers." Before she could start to panic, she heard the sound of a Falcon screech as a shadow zoomed over the windows.

"Look!" Skull pointed.

The group watched as the falcon zord flew overhead, heading straight for the monorail. "It's Tommy," Bailey murmured to Fred, Bulk, and Skull, who all nodded, watching in reply. The falcon zord laid down on the tracks in a perfect connection of the monorail and the train smoothly went overhead.

"Good luck," Tommy said.

Bailey heard him through the Communicator she still held on her wrist and she turned to the side, bringing it up to her mouth. "Thanks Bro, we've got it covered," she replied. They rode the monorail down to the rock quarry and quickly climbed off the train, racing towards the site. Bailey breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted the adults still moving slowly towards the edge of the cliff. She looked around, hoping to find something that would keep the adults back long enough to give them time to stop them.

"Hey guys?" Bulk's call grabbed their attention and the two young kids hurried over to the two police officers as they pointed down a side of the cliff. "Do you think we could use some of that?" Fred glanced over down the side and looked at the fire truck that sat below.

"Bonzer!" Bailey clasped her hands together. "That's perfect."

"You guys try to stop them," He called to the group of kids that watched the adults with fear. He paused, spotting Ernie and Lt. Stone in the crowd near his father. Swallowing thickly, he looked over a Bailey who had noticed the same thing.

The purple ranger put on a brave face and nodded off the kids before turning back to Bulk and Skull. "We have to get down there and we have to get down there now! The fire truck should have a means of a water pump on board as well as a ladder that will extend us up here if there aren't any keys we can use."

"You got it, boss!" Bulk agreed, giving her a salute before the four hurried down the side of the rock face and towards the bottom of the quarry. The water had receded far enough to show off the sharp and jagged rocks that lay below. If any of the adults went over the edge…

_Don't think about it, Bay, _she reminded herself. _Focus on the task at hand. Remember what Dad always said, no outside thoughts or you'll put yourself in even more danger. _The four carefully made it to the bottom and looked over the fire truck.

Skull immediately leapt into the front seat and looked over the controls. There were no keys that would be used to get the truck started but that was no problem. Not only did he have a lot of time on his hands after having been kicked out of school, but he had always been interested in mechanics and automobiles, restoring some cars back from the proverbial dead. There wasn't any sort of automobile he couldn't hotwire. Leaning over, he reached underneath the dashboard and pulled out the wires from underneath the steering column and looked through them. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a set of keys and snapped it through two of the wires. With the insides exposed, he pressed them together and the truck roared to life.

"Great job, buddy!" Bulk hollered at him.

"Nice one, Skull," Bailey added as she, Fred, and Bulk climbed into the cabin of the car. "Drive it over there! Get it as close to the cliff as you can." Fred leaned forward and watched as little rocks started to fall from the lip of the cliff and below. He held his breath, watching as the heels of some of the kids started to come into view as well as their backs. "Hurry!"

Skull drove the fire truck forward, as close to the cliff as he could and stopped it. Bulk immediately got out of the cabin of the truck and opened a panel on the side. "I got the ladder here," he instructed, pointing upwards. "There's a pump at the top, you two get up there and I'll direct you towards the group. If water was what had gotten the kids to come to their senses, maybe the stronger blow from this water pump will knock back the parents."

Nodding, Fred and the purple ranger scrambled up to the top of the ladder with a lift from Bulk and held on to the sides as tightly as possible as the ladder slowly directed their ways over towards the cliff. Once they were at the right height, Fred turned back to Bulk, cupping a hand around his mouth. "Turn it on!"

Bulk nodded and released the lever of the water pump and Fred and Bailey reached out and grabbed onto the nozzle at the front. A jolt shook through the front of the hose as the water came flying out towards the large group that slowly continued to shuffle towards the edge.

Gritting her teeth, Bailey held on tight to the hose and maneuvered it back and forth, showering them with water. There didn't seem to be any change at first, causing Bailey's heart to leap up and cram into her throat when she spotted Erie, Mitch, and Lt. Stone getting closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. _Come on…come on…_

There was another jolt through the nozzle of the hose and the water started to spray out harder and faster and then she saw that the group was starting to backup, shaking off the effect of the Ooze over them. The water didn't stop until every last adult and kid were pushed back far enough away from the edge.

"Yes!" Bailey cheered as Fred threw his hands up in the air. The kids started to scream and cheer as they grabbed onto their parents and hugged them tightly.

"Do you see my Dad?" Fred looked around the group having lost sight of his father. He frowned, leaning back and forth as he looked for his father. Finally, the purple ranger tapped him on the arm and pointed towards the side. Fred grinned and cupped his hands over his mouth "Dad!" he called.

Mitch caught his son's eye and grinned before hurrying over to the two as the ladder was slowly lowered enough that they could get back on solid ground. When Mitch reached the two young kids he wrapped the two of them in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you two are okay," he said to them, drawing back. "What happened? Last thing I remember, I was messing with your ooze."

"It's a long story, Dad," Fred responded.

"A very long story, mate," Bailey agreed, still grinning. "But things'll come good." She looked up as there was the sound of an explosion. "The power rangers have everything under control." She looked over at Fred and the two shared a smile.

"If that's the case, we should get out of here, just in case things start to come this way," Mitch suggested. His idea must've been heard for the group started to leave the area. Bailey waited to be sure that Bulk and Skull made their way up from the bottom of the quarry and gave them a hug.

"Great job guys," she said to them. "And thank you. Fred and I…we couldn't have done this without you two."

"It was our pleasure," Bulk replied.

"Yeah, what he said," Skull agreed. He looked towards the horizon where the rangers continued to fight against Zordon. "Now, what are you going to do?"

"I'll figure something out," Bailey said. "First, let's make sure everyone is out of here."

* * *

><p>Kimberly let out a grunt of pain as she was flung to the side in her seat, the arm crashing right into her ribs as Ivan swung a heavy blow their way. She winced and closed her eyes as bright colored flecks shot by the window.<p>

"The Power Sword has been destroyed." Aisha told her friends.

"Micro pressures dropping," Billy said as he looked over the scales and charts on the screens in front of him. He frantically pushed a few buttons that were by them. "Negative zone." There was another rattle that blasted through the Megazord as Ivan, now having blasted away their power sword, moved close and picked them up over his head.

"Brace yourselves," Rocky cried. "We're gonna hit hard."

"Let's see if you guys have the power of flight," Ivan said with a light laugh. He reared the Megazord back over his head and heaved them forward. The Megazord soared through the air and crashed through a high rise building, landing hard on the other side.

"All systems are down," Billy said as the lights inside the Megazord started to flicker.

"He's closing in." Adam said.

Ivan started to walk towards the rangers but stopped when he spotted the steam of adults running away from the rock quarry in the distance. He growled in frustration, no, none of his plan had worked. Then he noticed the purple ranger at the back of the group with Bulk and Skull. His eyes stayed transfixed up on her. "Blast that girl!" He rasped as wings slid out of his back. "I'm going to squish her like a grape!"

He took off into the air and headed over towards the rock quarry.

"Where's he going? "Adam called.

"He's going after Bay," Avalon replied. "I'm sorry guys, I gotta disengage."

"You go do that, Av, we'll take care of Ivan," Kimberly said. She then turned to the communication system and yelled for her boyfriend. "Tommy! Get your ass down here, now!"

"Falcon zord coming in to complete the sequence," Tommy said, the falcon zord flying overhead just as Avalon's tiger zord disengaged from the Megazord and raced after Ivan. "Ninja Falcon Mega Zord!" As the Falcon zord landed on top of the Megazord and completed his portion of the docking sequence. "Alright guys, let's get Ooze out of here before he destroys everything." Tommy told his friends.

Avalon raced the tiger zord after Ivan as he reached the rock quarry. Hearing the sound of the quakes getting louder, the purple ranger twisted around and watched with wide eye as Ivan headed her way. She stumbled back and fell on the ground as Ivan landed in front of her, glaring down at her. He kneeled down and towered over her as she stared back up at him.

"BAY!" Fred turned back towards her but Bulk grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder, continuing to carry him out of the area. "What're you doing? We have to help her!"

"She'll be fine, Fred, don't worry," Skull reassured him.

"Now I'll finally have at least one of you rangers out of my hair," Ivan said, bringing a hand up to his eyes. "And I'm glad that I can start with you. This'll teach you for stealing my color…ruining my plans." He sent out a bolt of energy towards her.

Bailey squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, waiting for the pain to hit her.

"Tiger Token!"

The purple ranger opened her eyes and watched as Avalon leapt in front of her sister with a large orange and black shield—reminiscent of her former Stega Shield—held up in front of her. The blast bounced harmlessly off of the shield and shot away. Ivan growled as he sat back.

"Av!" Bailey cried, scrambling up into a sitting position. "Boy am I glad to see you."

"I can say the same," Avalon replied. She reached into the holster of her blaster and pulled out a small, gold coin, handing it over to her sister. "I think you're going to need this." Bailey grinned and held onto it, a purple wave of electricity moving over her body.

"It's morphin' time!" She called. "Purple Ranger Power!"

She morphed into her reconfigured suit and the two stood up in front of Ivan as he started up another blast of energy towards them. The orange and purple ranger backed up as far as they could go, waiting for the blast. Avalon steadied her shield up in front of them, waiting for him to make his move.

Then, all of a sudden, the Ninja Megazord came flying overhead with the hands cupping around the orange and purple rangers, fending off the blow that Ivan sent their way. One the smoke cleared, the Megazord pulled back from the two girls.

"Are you guys Okay?" Aisha asked.

"Better than," Bailey replied. "Just getting started. Ninja Lion Zord!" As Avalon leapt back into the cockpit of her zord, the purple lion zord came out of its hiding place and Bailey went into the cockpit, with Bailey shooting off missiles from the mane of the lion zord that struck Ivan, before the two connected back with the Ninja Megazord. "So what have I missed?"

"Nothing other than getting our asses handed to us," Adam said. "We were just thinking of getting out of here, even the playing field a bit."

"Got it," Bailey agreed. "I'll set a course for space."

"I'll get the coordinates," Billy said.

"Let's do it."

The rangers piloted the Ninja Megazord out towards space as Ivan quickly followed after him. At first the rangers were afraid the zord wouldn't continue to hold as they went through the different atmospheres but soon they would amongst the stars. Something caught Billy's eye and he slowly smiled, watching as Hailey's comet zoomed around space. It was to be over Earth in a few days, that's what had been the means of keeping the observatory open.

"Guys, I think I know a way to get rid of Ivan," Billy said.

"Really, how?" Adam asked.

"Hailey's Comet! We get Ivan in the Comet's path and make sure that he can't get out of it in time, and before we know it, the trajectory and speed will be too much for him to handle."

"Got it," Tommy agreed. "Activating main thrusters." The Ninja Megazord zoomed towards Hailey's comet, turning around and watching as Ivan followed closely behind him. His face was a grotesque mask of fury as he zoomed towards them, hell-bent on destroying the power rangers after having had everything gone wrong for them. When he got close enough, they powered up the thrusters once more and rocketed upwards as Ivan kept going.

The Ninja Megazord turned around and faced Ivan. "Ninja Megazord Charge!" They cried and shot towards Ivan at blinding speeds, crashing into him and propelling him back into Hailey's comet, imploding upon impact.

The rangers cheered once they saw that Ivan had been destroyed and Tommy quickly regained control of the Megazord once more. "All right, now to get back to Zordon."

"And hurry," Bailey agreed.

* * *

><p>The Command Center was dark, silent, and as Alpha continued to look down at his fallen friend, he let out little sniffles every now and then. He looked over as there was a surging sound and spotted the rangers teleporting into the Command Center.<p>

With a brief feeling of excitement, he turned from Zordon and hurried over to the rangers as they took off their helmet. "Alpha," Bailey called, hurrying over to her friend and grabbed onto him. "Is everything alright?"

"Rangers, you made it!" Alpha cried happily seeing that the teens had managed to get the Great Power and defeat Ivan. He slowly lowered his head, sadness creeping over him once more. "But I'm afraid you're too late." He turned back towards the remnants of Zordon's tube and watched as the rangers hurried over to it, not wanting to believe the news.

But as they looked down at the still, gray person in front of them, they knew it to be true.

Zordon of Eltar was dead.

"Too late?" Billy asked. He had a hard time believing it, despite seeing Zordon lying quietly in front of him. Images of his mother filled his head and he dropped his helmet with a loud clatter, turning and punching a fist into the wall. "No!" Avalon looked over at him with tears in her eyes that she wouldn't allow to fall. She bent down into a squatting position and held her hands over her face, stealthily wiping away the tears before reaching out a hand and placing it on Billy's wrist and squeezing tightly.

"This can't be happening." Kimberly said with tears in her eyes.

Aisha whimpered and buried her face into Rocky's chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Bailey brushed away the tears that fell down her cheeks, but continued to hold a brave face the best she could. Adam put his arm around her shoulder, gently rubbing her arm.

Tommy clenched his hands into fists as he looked down at Zordon. No, all of their work wouldn't be for nothing. Zordon wasn't going to go, not like this. Not when he had so many people on his side. Suddenly Tommy realized something, remembering what Dulcea had said to them back on Phaedos. "Remember what we learned? To those who possess the great power, all things are possible." His friends looked at him in disbelief. "We have to try."

Then, following his lead, the rangers surrounded what was left of Zordon's power tube and raised their hands, pressing their palms together. Closing their eyes, they concentrated hard on the power inside them, just as they had when they were acquiring the great power from the Nathadian Monolith. A bright light shone from their chest plates and shot towards the center, coming together in a great ball of light, growing brighter and brighter as the seconds passed.

Alpha watched as the light continued to grow and the Command Center started to correct itself, fixing everything that had been broken, reconfiguring more and more as the seconds passed. Once the Command Center had been fixed, the light shone over Zordon, slowly engulfing him.

And to the rangers' surprise, Zordon's eyes flew open and he let out an almighty gasp. They watched in awe as the Command Center became fully restored, the last to come together being Zordon's tube. He opened his eyes, the mentor looking down at the color friends in front of him.

"Zordon!"

"Rangers!" He replied.

"We did it!" Bailey cheered before grabbing onto Alpha's hands and the two started to jump up and down in unison.

"He's alive, he's alive, he's alive!" Alpha cried out in happiness.

"We thought that you…" Kimberly trailed off as Tommy reached over and wiped away her tears. She didn't need to finish her sentence; they all knew what she was going to say. They had thought the same. But here he was, smiling in front of them once more.

"It is good to see you again too." Zordon told them, smiling like a proud father. "Rangers…you have done what others had failed to do, you brought the Great Power back and defeated Ivan Ooze once and for all. The Nathadians, the Order of the Meledon, Dulcea, myself, and all of Earth thank you for everything you've done."

"It's the least we can do, Zordon," Rocky said.

"Yeah, you've helped us and stood by us all these years, we couldn't give up on you," Tommy agreed.

Zordon smiled warmly.

* * *

><p>The rangers walked along the boardwalk through the celebratory party that had been thrown as the city of Angel Grove had been saved by the power rangers once more as well as to celebrate the Grand re-opening of the Observatory. Despite the destruction of Hailey's comet, the observatory had a new life that had been given to them and there was always something more to see.<p>

_Besides, _Avalon thought. _There might be some more Ooze up there to look at. _She smiled to herself at her little joke and Aisha and Kimberly, who were walking on either side of her with their arms linked together noticed and stopped.

"What's that smile for, girl?" Aisha asked.

"Nothing." The orange ranger shrugged. "Just…for once I'm really happy."

"I think I know why." Kimberly gave a sly smile before leaning over so that the yellow ranger could see her. The orange ranger watched with a suspicious glance. "Back when we had saved Zordon in the Command Center, I saw this one and a certain blue ranger getting a bit cozy." Avalon made a noise of protest as Aisha's eyes lit up. "They didn't stop holding hands the whole time they were there and don't try to deny it. You like him don't you?" Avalon opened her mouth to say her piece but was betrayed by the flush of crimson that slid up her cheeks. "I knew it!"

She and Aisha cheered, giving each other a high-five as Avalon dropped her arms from theirs. "Are you lot done analyzing my personal life to death?"

"Not really," Aisha said. "We,"—she motioned between herself and Kimberly—"always knew you liked him. I mean, he's always protect you in battle—"

"You sure you're not getting us mixed up with Tommy and Kim?" Avalon asked, ignoring Kimberly's indignant gasp. She smirked. "I mean, if I didn't hear her shouting Tommy's name so much, I might think she was actually starting to go crazy."

On the outside, Kimberly laughed along with her girl friends, looping her arms back through theirs as they continued to follow the guys as they walked a few feet in front of them. But on the inside, she took that comment to heart. She knew Avalon didn't mean it to be mean in a personal way, she was just kidding around, but it reminded her of how badly she had done against the skeleton monster and the Gate Keepers. She was weak, even with her new powers it wasn't something that kept her at the same level as her friends.

She was broken out of her thoughts as Rocky turned around and called back to the girls, "hey, are you guys hungry?"

"We're not but I'm sure you are, Rocko," Aisha called back as the girls hurried and caught up to the boys, falling in step with them. She rubbed her hands together. "So, where do you want to eat?"

"How about that place right off the pier?" Tommy suggested. "Seafood and a great view over the water."

Kimberly thought of protesting but her stomach growled loudly. They hadn't eaten much since being on Phaedos and she had fought a lot, she deserved this. Smiling up at her boyfriend, she looped her arm around his waist and leaned into him. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too," Rocky concurred.

"I don't think we had a probability of you not liking the idea, Rocky," Billy said, causing the group to laugh once more.

"Cool. It's over here." Adam directed the group to the seafood restaurant and got a table for the group on the outside patio. Sitting down around the table, Billy frowned when he noticed the pink and yellow rangers cast him a sly glance as he settled into his chair next to Avalon.

"Uh, what are they looking at?" He asked his best friend.

"Nothing, mate," Avalon said shortly, her cheek blossoming once more. "Absolutely nothing." His eyes narrowed for a moment but then he caught sight of the redness on her cheeks and smiled to himself as he stretched out in his seat.

"I don't know, I think there's plenty to see."

Avalon rolled her eyes and made a show of lifting her menu and covering her face, missing the laughter from all of her friends around them. They ordered their food and just had it delivered to their table, ready to start eating when Fred and Bailey arrived at their table. Prizes from carnival games were draped over their shoulders as well as their faces being painted.

"Hey guys," Fred greeted them.

"Hey," Bailey echoed.

"Hey Fred," Tommy said, doing his handshake with the boy before ruffling Bailey's hair. "What's up?"

"You guys look like you've to quite a haul," Rocky added, looking over their prizes. "I hope you saved some for the rest of us." The purple ranger shrugged and beamed, appearing just as happy as her sister was.

"So rumor has it that you're quite the hero, Fred," Kimberly spoke up, flashing him a bright smile. Fred exchanged a glance with Bailey and shook his head.

"Thanks, but it wasn't just me. Bay and Bulk and Skull helped out a lot, too. Without them…we wouldn't have been able to get anything done. Besides, the power rangers did most of the work." He bit back a smirk.

Tommy shook his head. "Things got tough, you didn't panic. You my friend demonstrated true bravery."

Now Fred was enjoying the attention that was put on him. "It's like what you taught me about martial arts; use your head, and above all, stay calm." Fred said

"I heard you're in line to be a ranger yourself one of these days." Aisha said to Fred, making everyone at the table smile.

"Nah, that's impossible." Fred denied. Bailey made a snorting sound and gently bumped Fred on the shoulder, giving him a warning look. He ignored her. "You really think so?" Fred asked. "Cause I was thinking of being either the silver or gold ranger. I just hope that Zordon has enough space at the Command Center for me."

Now the rangers all froze as they ate and Bailey looked up at the sky, making sure she didn't catch anyone's gaze. Billy, on the other hand, immediately recognized the tactic out of his co-technical advisor and leaned towards her. "Hey Bay," he said to her. "How does he know about the Command Center and Zordon?"

All eyes turned to the purple ranger and she grimaced. "Well, about that—"she started but was cut off by the sound of fireworks going off behind them. Twisting around, the rangers watched as fireworks started to go off over the water. "Cool!" She and Fred chorused as they jumped up onto the railing to see.

The rangers got out of their chair and went to the railing to watch the fireworks as well. Noticing that the shortest ranger was the last to get to the railing, Billy held his hand out towards Avalon and she gave him a grateful smile as she took it allowed herself to be pulled up to stand on the railing next to her sister and Fred.

As the fireworks continued to explode overhead in rainbows of colors, Avalon tilted her head back and looked towards the sky. There were so many things she knew she was going to have to face now, thing she hoped the other rangers wouldn't find out about before she had a chance to work them out for herself. But everything with her mother, father, Dana, and the other thing…everything she had been anxious about returning to as they returned from Phaedos didn't matter in that moment.

All that mattered was that Zordon was back, Ivan was destroyed, and they had saved the world another time.

As she tucked some loose hair behind her ear, the orange ranger caught Billy's eye and he smiled at her. She smiled back at him before noticing a serious expression sliding onto his face. He leaned forward for a second, hesitated, and then leaned forward completely, pressing his lips gently against hers to which she shyly responded to.

And for the rest of that night, the rangers basked in another job well done and knowing that no matter what came their way they were going to face it together.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I'd like to thank _heartpunker123 _for a lot of the ideas that I ended up using in this portion of the story, it was very helpful and fun to bounce ideas off you. I'd also like to thank _XoxMountainGirlxoX _because she gave me some ideas for the past chapters as well as how to go forward with Kimberly's plotline. Thanks again!

I had a lot of fun writing these past couple of chapters and I can't wait to go through the rest of the story and see what you all think of the things I come up with. Thanks so much for the support you guys, it really means a lot.

Thanks to _heartpunker123, TaitanoRules555, Adela, XoxMountainGirlxoX, I love power rangers7135, Ashley, brakel1, TerraHart, Keren Olivero, and Rose Specktor_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	11. Chapter 11: Revenge Plan

**Chapter 11**

_Revenge Plan_

* * *

><p>Zedd growled as he looked down over Earth. It sickened him, just sickened him how humiliating everything had been. I van Ooze had taken over the Lunar Palace so easily…to the point where it was like he and Rita had never existed, as if they were play things to the intergalactic monster.<p>

That _damned _monster that had managed to imprison him and Rita within a matter of seconds after having been released from his prison. And the chambers were terrible; the worst conditions Zedd had ever been in. And he had made those conditions for his prisoners from the other planets they had managed to conquer. He had been the one to decide what sort of torture and pain to inflict upon those that ended up there and it had made him smile and grin like a little kid that just had a basket of candy handed to him.

And then to be sent down there himself…to have his concubines see him when he was supposed to be scary, strong, and dominating over the Lunar Palace…in some ways he owed his release to the Power Rangers and that made everything worse. Once Ivan was defeated, Goldar and Rito had gone back to the Lunar Palace and released Rita, Zedd, and Sabrina, sending Sabrina back down to Earth and out of their sight. Now that they had Scorpina around permanently, they wouldn't need her anymore. Not that the rangers would have her much longer either, something told him that she would be too traumatized by the events.

Especially after he had gotten through with her…

Zedd stood up and went back to the caves underneath the main part of the palace, going towards his chamber. He heard the moans and screams of his captives and that brought a small sense of thrilling excitement through his body. They were still fearful of him and that was all he needed at the moment.

No, what he needed was a plan.

A plan for the ultimate revenge, to show that he wasn't going to allow anyone to run over him. But what? What was it that would finally show Angel Grove and Earth that he wasn't someone so easily defeated and to be taken lightly? He couldn't just storm down and start to enslave people, he would probably have their military all over them in a matter of second, not only that, but the Power Rangers wouldn't allow that lying down.

There had to be something.

_Anything._

"What are you so angry about?" Rita's voice screeched across their bed chamber in that annoyingly grating way that always had him want to shove his Z-scepter down his throat. "You're like an overgrown nightlight, stop glowing like that!"

"I'm sorry, dear, but I always get angry when I think about the times I've been wronged," he replied. He stalked across the room to her perch as she sat on a bench by the window, a large book of spells in her lap. He shoved it aside, knocking it to the floor before sitting down next to her. "I'm not going to allow ourselves to fail again. We _have _to come up with a plan that will either decimate the entire Earth or have the residents of Angel Grove reduced to dust, the power rangers included. Whichever comes first."

"Zeddy, use Rito," Rita said to her husband. She gave a light roll of his eyes. "I mean, he was the one that burned down our house and reduced _himself _to bone. I think he'll be a powerful foe against the power rangers."

"What else can he do?"

"He was one of the monsters that destroyed the power rangers' power! He had delivered the last blow that caused the zords to fall apart. He is someone that we can really use on our team. And after he continues to break down the rangers, then we can go in and enslave the Earth."

"That was before they got the Great Power from Dulcea," Zedd rumbled. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That had been Ivan's ultimate downfall; the Great Power. And now that the rangers have it…we need something big that'll stand up to it." He paused. "Or steal it for ourselves."

Rita blinked at him. "Steal it?" She sounded skeptical. "And how do you plan on doing that? Just go up to them and ask for it?"

"No, we're going to steal it from them," Zedd continued. "If we take the powers from them, find a way to take control of their zords, _something_!" He clenched his hand into a fist, starting to glow once more. "If we can do that…we'll find a way to finally destroy them. But I like your idea of using Rito. He helped in the destruction of the rangers; of Ivan…we can really use him."

Yes.

The gears were already turning his head for the perfect plan that would finally get rid of the rangers. It would be the plan that would start his destruction of the entire universe and he'd save Zordon for last. Ivan may have killed him once before, but the mentor had managed to come back to life.

This time, Zedd was sure Zordon would be on his knees, begging for mercy.

But mercy wasn't in Zedd's vocabulary and he vowed that, unlike Ivan, he would give Zordon a slow and utterly painful death.

* * *

><p>Avalon let out a heavy sigh, brushing her hair off her forehead as she twisted her sketchbook to the side. For a long moment she stared at the drawing she had been working on, scrutinizing its flaws and weak spots. It wasn't working. Despite the fact that she had her muse, a bouquet of flowers, sitting in front of her it just wasn't right. Maybe because they were some of the last bit of flowers left over from the funeral, she wasn't surprised there were still people dropping by to pay their condolences; Lacey had been a prominent figure at the university as well as in the science world in general.<p>

Pushing her book aside, she rested her chin in her hands, staring at the flowers in front of her. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her mother, not after having had gotten back in touch with her after all the years they had been apart. They weren't 'back to normal' by any means, but the thought still devastated her. It made her think about Dana, actually. Not only had their father, Captain Mitchell, kept the secret from her that he had another family, but she had also lost her mother when she was young as well as her older brother who, as far as the orange ranger knew, she didn't know about.

_Talk about taking things for granted, _she thought. For a long time she had been angry at her mother for leaving her, without knowing the whole story, and now that everything was out in the open…she always felt guilty about it.

"If you stare at those flowers any longer, I'm sure they'll burst into flames," David Cranston commented from across the room. Avalon smiled as she pushed the vase away from her and turned to address the blue ranger's father. He had been sitting quietly on the couch, reading the newspaper, though she wasn't sure he had actually been reading it.

It was the same newspaper from the weekend before and he continuously scanned over it as if he couldn't get enough of the news that the power rangers had saved the world and the observatory. Thankfully he hadn't gotten under control of Ivan's ooze, as he had explained that he evacuated as soon as the alarms had gone off. However he was still haunted over his wife and despite having gone back to work, whenever he was at home he would zero in on the newspaper and focus on that, shut himself in his office, or in his room. He was getting better…but as Avalon knew, it would take a while before things were _actually _better.

"You have no idea," Avalon called back, hiding a smile. If she still had her powers to manipulate fire it wouldn't been reduced to a pile of ash the second it appeared at the house. She understood the help and condolences that were being given, however it seemed to be hurting more than helping.

"Where's Billy?"

"He went out to get the mail."

"Okay." David sat on the couch, silent for a long moment, and then started to fold up the paper. The orange ranger watched in dismay as he made sure that each page was meticulously arranged in the overall cover of the paper before he folded it at the crease, the photo of the power rangers on the front page. He stared down it silently before carefully setting it aside and getting to his feet.

He had made it as far as the hallway before the front door opened and Billy walked back through the door, holding onto a large stack of mail. David smiled at his son before going up the stairs and disappearing into his office. The blue ranger watched his father until he disappeared from sight, then went into the kitchen, slowing when he spotted Avalon at the counter.

She turned towards him and gave him a shy smile, which was quite unlike her, before taking her sketchbook and moving it back in front of her to start drawing once more. Things weren't awkward between each other since they kissed, not really. It was just they hadn't had the chance to say anything, because they hadn't wanted to bring it up around David. Not only because they weren't sure how he would react to it, but because they had needed their own time to think about it.

Avalon did anyway, not only had she not dated in a long time, but because there were so many things she hadn't told him about her past, the things she had done…she didn't want him to get scared away or judge her when she did finally decide to tell him. As a matter of fact, knowing that Chase was still contacting her, not knowing what to do with that information, and still not telling any of the other rangers was giving her more anxiety than she had anticipated.

"Hey," Billy said to her.

"Hey."

He hesitantly crossed the kitchen to the other side of the counter and sat down on the stool across from her. "Can we talk?"

"Of course."

Billy took a deep breath before resting his hands on the counter, twiddling his thumbs. "Considering what happened last week, I don't want you think that…what happened wasn't enjoyable. I just wasn't sure how to go on from there, especially after what happened with Trini and how she left and how her parents didn't like me. So I was hoping that we'd be able to—"

"Whoa! Hang on a tick!" Avalon held up her hands and waved them in front of Billy's face, effectively getting him to stop. "Geez, Smurf, take a breath before you _really_ turn blue, yeah?" He half-smile as she lowered her hands to her lap. "I get what you mean," she said. "I wasn't sure where to go from what happened, either, because…well, I wasn't sure if it was just the ambiance of the party and everything but…" she lowered her head, a flush erupting on her cheeks once more. "If I said that was all it was, I'd be lying. I've liked you for a while, Billy…I just didn't want to say anything because of Trini and because of the things I've gone through…"

Billy nodded. "That's understandable." He shuffled his feet.

"And, of course, there's your Dad," Avalon continued. "And that I wouldn't be sure if I could date you because I live here—"

"I'm not your foster brother, Ava," he reminded her.

"Thank God," she said bluntly. "Because that would've really sucked, though I think dating in secret would've been kind of fun." Her accompanying wicked smile caused the blue ranger to laugh. Avalon then realized what she had said and tilted her head to the side. "Are we? Dating I mean?"

Billy looked at her for a long moment. "You know what's funny? You're usually so…open and straightforward with what you want. But now…"

_I figured that was going to come up at some point. _She really did pride herself on being someone that was always straightforward about what she wanted, when she wanted it, and how she wanted it. She had a means of usually getting her way, could be called manipulative, and would even admit that she had a tendency to be particular about it. But something like this…she had opened herself up to someone before, a lot of people, and in the end was always the one that was hurt and had to pick up the pieces and despite knowing Billy would never do something like that—he had proven it from sticking with Trini despite what her parents had to say—she still couldn't help but worry.

"I've had my heart broken before. From a lot of different people that I thought would be constant fixtures in my life. And I don't want—"

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"I don't think you will. I'm afraid I might hurt you," she admitted. Billy blinked, eyebrows rising in surprise. "Not only because of being a ranger and the danger that comes with that, but because of everything that comes with…my past and everything. There are some things I don't think I'll ever tell you, or feel like I can tell you without wondering if I'll be judged by it. And it'll take a bit for me to get to the point where I will tell you those things, yeah, but I can't help but worry."

"You don't have to worry about me," Billy reminded her. He reached out and grabbed onto her hand. "If Rita and Zedd haven't managed to do it at this point, I don't think anything else will. And…if you'd like to go…I was wondering if you'd want to go to the observatory with me."

Finally, Avalon beamed and started to kick her leg back and forth, like a little kid. "I'd like that! I mean, we won't be able to see Hailey's comet, but I'm sure there's plenty of other things out there we can check out."

"Good." Billy smiled and picked up the mail, starting to sort through it. "Because I already bought the tickets."

The orange ranger's laughter faded as she said, "What about your Dad?"

The blue ranger paused for a moment, eyebrows knitting together. It was as they had said before; he wasn't hers or Bailey's foster brother so that there was no rule of them going out. But there was still telling him that they were dating, while living under the same roof, and then there was the ever present thought of how he would feel as the love of his life had been taken away. Billy hoped by that point that David would've been able to return to the vibrant man he had always know. But something had broken inside the blue ranger's father and it was going to take everything for it to be fixed.

"I'll talk to him," he promised. Shifting a magazine aside he picked up an envelope and glanced at the name on the front before handing it over to the orange ranger. "Mail for you. It doesn't look to have a return address."

Avalon's heart dropped. She knew it was from Chase. While his earlier letters had come with the stamp mark from jail, he had grown accustomed to using his contacts that he still had while he was waiting trial. The last couple of letters came with no post mark, meaning they were usually hand delivered to the mailbox if not to the front porch. There had to be someone from the Vipers, if not another person he knew. And that worried her the most. She took the envelope and scanned the front, trying to discern the handwriting, only noting that it wasn't Chase's.

She just hoped Billy hadn't noticed.

"Must be from Oz," she explained quickly. "I try to explain it to my friends and everything, but I guess they don't seem to get it." She closed her sketchbook and hopped down from her stool, pushing it in. "As a matter of fact, if I'm going to send back a letter, I'm going to need more stamps. So I'm just going to run to the post office and then we can meet the other at the movie theatre."

"Sure thing," Billy said. "I was going to check out our new zords and test their abilities at the Command Center." He lifted his communicator and pressed a button before teleporting out in a bright flash of blue light. The orange ranger made sure he was gone before she grabbed her copy of the house key and slipped out of the front door.

Tucking the letter into her back pocket, the orange ranger hugged her arms to her chest as she started down the street at a quick pace. "Okay, don't panic. Don't panic. All you have to do is call the jail and make sure he hasn't been in contact with anyone on the outside. Most of the Vipers are inside anyway, yeah? And no one's managed to find Summer or Skye. As soon as Chase goes on trial, then you can tell everyone everything." She paused, letting out a deep breath. "If that doesn't take too long.

She continued walking at a quick pace, head bent low as she went. Her doc martens clomped along on the ground as she went, echoing the beating of her heart. But as she continued she suddenly started to slow down. Had she heard something? Turning to look over her shoulder, she found there was no one behind her. When she turned back, she stopped short, eyes widening at the faces that stood in front of her.

At first she hadn't recognized Skye and Summer, they had changed their appearances drastically. Skye had grown a mustache and beard as well as having grown out his hair a little bit longer while Summer, who was already thin, had lost some more weight, giving her face a gaunt look and changed her hair color from a beautiful blonde to a deep auburn color.

The two smiled at her and Skye lifted his chin, eyes moving down. "Watcha got there?"

It was then that Avalon noticed Summer had a switchblade in her hand, the handle covered by her hand, the point directed towards Avalon's chest. The orange ranger reacted quickly and jumped backwards as Summer lunged forward, trying to slash her along the front. The orange ranger spun on her heel and charged across the street, the two following after her. She continued to run through the alleyway, taking sharp corners and throwing trash cans and debris behind her as she went. Periodically, she would check over her shoulder and find the two still on her heels.

Not close enough to grab her, but closer than she had ever anticipated for a long time.

Coming close to a dead-end, Avalon found a stack of trash cans on the left side of the alleyway and a fire escape on the right, with the ladder high off the ground. Thinking quickly, she leapt atop the trash cans and bounced off the top, pressing one foot against the wall to aid her distance and grabbed onto the bottom of the ladder and swung herself up and on top of the fire escape.

"Damn!" Skye kicked at a nearby trash can.

Summer pointed at her and brought her finger across her throat before the two left the alleyway, leaving Avalon to collapse against the wall behind her, trying to catch her breath.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Dana, Ellie, and Captain Mitchell have big parts in this story compared to the last one and I can't wait to expand more upon that. Thanks for the feedback on the last couple of chapters of the story; I'm happy you all enjoyed what I had done with the plot of the movie, adding some influence of the show with it. I know this chapter was short, but I needed to start part of Av's plot and I needed something that would balance the last chapter.

Also, along with updating this story, I have put up the first chapter to my Billy-centered story. This story, like _Something's Gotta Give_, runs on a bit of a separate timeline to the Avalon series, but can be regarded as a side-story and placed in the series as well. It's called _In Too Deep._

Thanks to _I love power rangers7135,TaitanoRules555, AstroPink3000, Adela, heartpunker123, Ashley, Son of Whitebeard, Rose Specktor, brankel1, TerraHart, and kyle _ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	12. Chapter 12: Strange Happenings

**Chapter 12**

_Strange Happenings_

* * *

><p>One thing that Dana Mitchell wasn't was stupid. Not only did she excel in math and science, everything that would bring her to her ultimate dream of becoming a doctor, but in nearly everything she tried. She had a lot of friends, a great social life, and if it wasn't for that fact that her father had a tendency to be a bit strict with her, she would say that her life was perfect.<p>

That was, until she had found that her father was hiding something from her. There was no way for her to question that she was being left out of something. She remembered having trying to question her father about it the last time he had taken some time off of work. He had managed to skillfully avoid the question and randomly decided to take her to school. Not only had the offer to take her to school was strange, she usually had to drive herself, but the conversation had been even weirder.

What was going on with the monsters in Angel Grove that he really had to focus on? His job was only supposed to have them in Australia for a couple of years, but they had been there, from Mariner Bay, longer than he had originally said. And while they were getting ready to head back to the California city within the next year, she couldn't help but think back to that conversation.

Monsters and evacuation processes that continued to run rampant throughout Angel Grove and they were to move back to the city that was only a few hours away? What was going to keep the monsters away? And why had they wasted so much time in Australia if all of the work was going to be done in Mariner Bay. She so had decided to snoop and see what it as that her father was really doing. He waited until he had disappeared into his bedroom after a hard day and work and snuck into his office.

The easiest part was finding Angela Fairweather's phone number and calling it asking the young woman for some of the folders that she had seen her father constantly bring to and from work. It was the one thing that he brought back and forth and she knew it was important if he hadn't allowed it to stay locked in his office overnight. At first Angela had been hesitant to bring the folders to Dana, but the blonde had quickly reassured her that her father had wanted the files and he was just too sick to get up and get it for himself.

Being on such the low end of the totem pole at her place of work and not wanting to disappoint her boss, Angela made quick work of getting into his office and getting the files, bringing them to the Mitchell residence as quickly as possible. After Dana had thanked Angela for the files, she quickly went to her room and locked the door behind her; ignoring the fact her father would become very irate at the locked door.

That's where everything had spilled out in front of her.

"Okay, Dad…what is it that you're hiding," she whispered before reaching out and opening the folder.

The first thing she found was a multitude of health forms. Not only were they forms she had never seen before, but they had to do with different things she was sure she nor her father ever had. Allergies to strawberries, asthma, allergies to cut grass, chicken pox at five years old, intense intelligence. As far as she as concerned, she was smart, but wouldn't ever be considered intensely intelligent. Those findings gave her pause before she started to move through the other files in the folders.

Court documents.

Official documents she couldn't make sense of.

Signatures on papers she had trouble deciphering what they meant.

Copies of checks filled out to an Ellie Harwood.

"What is all this stuff?" Dana murmured, brushing her hair over her ear. Her eyes narrowed a little as she continued with her works. Pages and pages were turned as she continued to dive deeper and deeper into the information that was spit at her. It wasn't until she was halfway through that she found the photographs of two brunette girls.

Picking up a photo she examined it closely, the elder girl appeared to be about her age, with long dark brown hair and eyes, face set into a serene expression as she sat atop concrete steps. Sitting below her was a younger brunette girl, hair just as long as the first, but with glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. Her smile was a bit shyer, not unlike the one Dana usually had for those around her.

_Who are they? _Putting down the photograph, she started o look through others that had been stacked with it. Pictures of the girls growing up through life; as infants, toddlers, little girls…there was an obvious age different between the two but the girls didn't appear to be irritated by the fact, as most of the pictures were taken of them together.

Those pictures continued on and as Dana moved through them, she suddenly felt a sense of recognition. There was something familiar about the girls, but she couldn't quite put her fingers on it. She had never met them before, that she knew for sure, and yet it was like she had known them her entire life. Even when she got to the end of the stack of pictures, finding the two girls now with a large group of friends that were about the age of the older girl. On a whim, Dana turned the picture around and frowned when she spotted the words written at the top:

_Angel Grove '93, Avalon, Bailey, Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha._

"Angel Grove?" Dana slowly lowered the picture. _That's what Dad was talking about…his work that would help keep monsters away…_Glancing over her shoulder; Dana glanced at the picture of her and her father that sat on her bedside table. The two were smiling warmly in the picture, that's what she had always seen. But now looking at it, she could see how happy _she _looked, how warmly _she _smiled, but now that she was studying it more, she could see that her father wasn't smiling as brightly. His muscles and cheeks were turned up in a bright smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

In fact he looked tired, defeated, as if he were being haunted by something.

Turning back to the papers in front of her, Dana flipped to one of the last pages that had caught her by so much surprise that she gasped loudly and dropped the folder to the floor. And even as papers and photographs scattered she worked hard to decipher the words that were typed onto the top of the sheets of paper. Her blood ran cold and her heart dropped.

Once again she was startled by two knocks on her bedroom door, which was customary for Captain Mitchell to do when he was about to enter Dana's room, but then it was accompanied by the sound of the doorknob turning and becoming stuck. The knob rattled for a few moments before there was another knock on the door and when Captain Mitchell spoke, she heard the stern tone.

"Dana, you know I don't allow locked doors."

"…" At the moment, Dana didn't really care what he allowed. Everything she had known about him had been a lie. All of it. What else was there that she didn't know? Was she _really _her father? Did her mother pass the way he said she had? Was he really working to try and keep Mariner Bay safe or did he take up a second job as some sort of private investigator as the documents led her to believe. She didn't care. He was a liar and that was it.

"Dana! Open this door, now!"

Dana slowly got to her feet and much like a zombie, walked over towards the rattling wood. Reaching out, she slowly unlocked the door and took a few steps backwards as she opened it. Captain Mitchell looked down at her with a tight expression on his face before his eyes shifted to the documents that gently wafted in the breeze created by Dana's overhead fan.

Then the expression on his face completely changed and he let out a long sigh. Dana watched as his face briefly turned pale and he reached up, running a hand over his face, stopping above his chin. And as the seconds passed she expected him to make some sort of excuse, to break out into laughter, to tell her she was wrong. _Anything _but just stand there in silence.

"It's true?" She whispered, eyes slowly growing wide as she stared at her father. Captain Mitchell glanced at her once more before looking away. "Daddy…is it true?"

"Dana, I—"

"I don't want any excuses," Dana snapped. She knew she was overstepping her boundaries with the way she was speaking to her father, the sudden slackness of his jaw, allowing his mouth to drop open slightly told her that. "I just want a 'yes' or a 'no'…are you…do you…" She trailed off before turning back to the paper on the ground, pointing at it.

The words _Birth Certificate_ on two separate documents were what initially threw her and were the ones that had landed face up were they had fallen. Dana could barely stand reading her father's name listed amongst Avalon's and Bailey's, or Cadence and Abigail, or whatever their names were. To see her father's names on those certificates…to know the truth when it had been hanging over her head for so long. There were things that made sense now…he wasn't always there, always had to go on trips of all of a sudden. He was very closed off with relationship with her mother, didn't talk much about things that had happened to them in the past and only lived in the moment and the future. He had such strict rules for her and the way they lived at home, granted due to his job in the government. But the discipline, the expectations that were placed upon her…maybe it was a way for him to keep his past away from her.

And now she knew why.

"Is it true?" She asked again.

Captain Mitchell lowered his hand from his mouth and nodded as he cleared his throat. "Yes, it's true," he confirmed. "Avalon and Bailey…they're my daughters."

Dana's jaw dropped. It was different seeing the information out in front of her but hearing it actually confirmed…she felt sick. Groping for her bed, Dana's knees gave out and she slumped toward the floor. _How? Why? When? _Her mouth formed the questions but they wouldn't gain any traction to punch the air between them. It'd make things even more real than they already were. _He has two other daughters…two other children he never told me about…_Then, slowly raising her eyes, Dana stared at her father as she was struck with the harsh reality. "Mom…" she breathed. "You cheated on Mom?"

Captain Mitchell let out another breath before crossing the room and kneeling down in front of his daughter. She didn't push her away that was a good sign. Nevertheless, he made sure he didn't get too close in case she started to swing at him. "It's complicated, Dana," he said slowly, gauging her reaction. "Your mother…she was very sick."

"But that didn't mean you had to go and cheat on her," Dana whispered, head still down.

"She didn't want me to continue life, watching her waste away," Captain Mitchell explained.

He remembered that day exactly. Not only had she not wanted him to continue and sit around, waiting for her to pass, but she hadn't wanted the kids around her as well, afraid for them to see her when she was that sick, when she wasn't her fullest. There was still the chance she could make a full recovery, but that chance was slim and she expected the worse. Captain Mitchell still remembered the way she had held his hand the last day she had been alive.

She had continued to tell him to take himself and the kids home so that they could get some rest. He had leaned over and gave her a hug and a kiss and as he started to pull away, she held tightly onto his hand. A grasp that was more than just a lover's touch, one that said goodbye. He hadn't thought of it that way until the next morning when he had gotten the call that she had passed.

"She didn't want _you _to see her wasting away. And even then, I didn't want you to be there, in general, considering how scary things like that are for young children."

"But that was my mom!"

"I know that, Dana, and I made the decision that I thought was the best one for us as time went on." He reached out and grabbed onto her hands. "Please listen to me," he pleaded. "I did what I thought was best. Things were hard for all of us at the time and your mother asked me to keep you away from it."

"But what does that have to do with them?" Dana viciously stabbed at the photos that lay scattered around the room. "What does that have to do with you having two other children? Why didn't I know about this, Dad?"

"Because I wasn't sure how you would react to it," Captain Mitchell said. "How am I supposed to tell you that your mother didn't want me to be stuck…and I made a mistake. I've made a lot of mistakes, Dana, I'm not perfect. But you're punishing me for something that I've been punished enough for! Do you think I can continue to keep going through life _knowing _that there're things that I can't take back?"

Dana shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. That's not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that he was sorry, the explanation behind everything, who Avalon and Bailey really were and why she had never heard of them. But he kept turning it back towards how _he _felt, what decisions _he _made, what her mother wanted _him _to do.

Did her feelings not matter?

"Get out." She started to gather the documents together and push them back into his folder. He hadn't even asked where she had gotten everything, just went straight to excuses. "I don't want to see this anymore. Get out."

"Dana." Captain Mitchell placed his hand on her shoulders and his heart dropped when he felt her shaking. He didn't expect her to be as upset as she was…he didn't expect her to do anything; it wasn't the time that he wanted her to know. In fact, if he could do it all over again, he would've told her about them as early as possible.

He would've done a lot of things differently, but there was no way to go back in time and he couldn't pretend like nothing happened.

"Please, honey, will you listen to me?" He pleaded.

Dana froze for a second; this wasn't the 'Captain' that she answered to speaking, but her father. The way he had called her honey, they only spoke in such informal tones when the time called for it. Otherwise everything ran nearly as professionally as they did when he was at work. This wasn't a part of him that she was used to and it scared her even more.

Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she finished gathering the documents into the folder and shoved them at her father. "Get out!" She cried, shoving him. "I don't…I don't want to talk right now. Please, just go away."

She turned and flopped onto her bed, burying her face into her arms as she let out a wail. Captain Mitchell sighed as he took the folder and got to his feet.

Hopefully, soon, they would all see that what he had done…had been done because he thought it was right.

* * *

><p>"Alright guys, I have a disturbance in the park, who wants to take it?"<p>

Lt. Stone looked back and forth over his class of police officer candidates and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that none of them raised their hands. Even Bulk and Skull lowered themselves in their seats, trying not to be noticed. Tilting his head to the side, Lt. Stone scratched at his neck as the seconds passed by.

"Listen, I know a lot of strange things happened over the past couple of weeks in Angel Grove, there's _always _going to be strange things going on," he explained. "And even though some of the tasks, like checking out the disturbance in the park, may be mundane, but it's still something that we, as officers, need to do. It shows not only that we care about this city and our residents, but that we would do anything for it."

Skull crossed his legs at the ankle and tried his best not to meet Lt. Stone's gaze, on his right he could see Bulk was doing the same. Not that they didn't want to do as much as they could to make sure they graduated from the police academy, but _because _they wanted to graduate from the police academy. When everyone that had been affected by Ivan's Ooze came out from underneath the monster's spell, he and Bulk had quickly taken Lt. Stone aside and explained everything that had gone on.

At first, Lt. Stone hadn't been so forthcoming about congratulations to the two young men, but after having heard the news come from anonymous tips later—though the two were very sure they knew who it was—they got the recognition they had deserved…and then it started to spread around. Not only had they been the ones to help the power rangers, but had a great part in who banded together the kids of Angel Grove to help save the adults of the city. No matter where they went Bulk and Skull found they were being treated as hometown heroes and as much as they were glad that people were starting to realize they weren't the bullies they had been years before and it was unnerving.

They had wanted to be treated like the mature men they were now becoming, and as soon as it came on a city-wide scale, they weren't even sure they wanted it anymore.

Even then, Skull could tell there were some people that started to look back at him and Bulk to see if they would volunteer to go. Skull slid down even lower in his seat and brought a hand up to scratch his forehead, hoping to cover his face. _Don't pick me, don't pick me _he thought. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Bulk cleared his throat before lifting his hand into the air.

"I'll go, sir," he offered.

"What are you doing?" Skull hissed towards him.

Bulk lowered his hand. "Look, I know that all of the attention we're getting isn't really what we wanted, but it's not going to go away just because we want it to."

Skull bobbed his head back and forth as he thought about what Bulk had said. In many ways he had become a bit bitter at the attention, not only because he knew years before if anyone had told people that he and Bulk would've been ones that would help save the world they would've been laughed at, but because he now understood why the power rangers wore the helmets to conceal their identities all the time.

"But this is what we've wanted to do, to become police officers to serve and protect Angel Grove and it's like Lt. Stone said, not everything is an exciting job."

Skull let out a deep breath before raising his hand into the air, to go along with Bulk. "Bulkmeier and Skullovitch, glad to see you two are getting into the spirit of volunteering," Lt. Stone said. He clasped his hands together behind his back, taking a sweeping glance over the other students in the class. "The rest of you will continue to try and beat your times in a time trial on the obstacle course instead." The corner of his lips turned up as a collective groan came over the class. "Lt. Andrews will be there to time you as you try to achieve your PR. Skullovitch, Bulkmeier and I will head out to the park."

Bulk and Skull got up from their table and fell into the stream of cadets leaving the classroom. While their classmates filed out towards the right, heading out the back of the building towards the obstacle course, Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone went to the right towards the front of the building. They climbed into the back of Lt. Stone's cruiser and headed towards Angel Grove Park. Once they arrived, they started to walk a slow perimeter around the park, trying to appear inconspicuous as they headed towards the area that the call had been come from.

Finally, they had made it to the portion of the park the call had come from. Skull placed his hands on his hips as he looked around trash littered the ground, graffiti was sprayed all over the concrete path and the tunnel that lead from the park. As the three approached, he could see a female figure standing underneath the overpass with a spray paint can in her hand, a cigarette dangling from the fingertips of the other. As she brought the cigarette to her mouth, turning towards the footsteps that came her way, Skull's eyes widened.

"Sharky?" He asked, immediately recognizing the young woman. He looked over at Bulk and saw his eyes had widened with recognition as well. Lt. Stone noticed the confusion from the two, but continued towards her.

"What's going on here?" He asked her.

Sharky let out a sigh, a long stream of smoke protruding from her mouth. "Just sprucing up the place a little bit," she murmured.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Lt. Stone continued. He glanced at Bulk and Skull for a moment before walking towards her and taking the spray can from her. He then reached up and plucked the cigarette from her hand and tossed it to the ground, crushing it under his feet. "Your ID please?"

Sharky rummaged through her pockets and handed it over to Lt. Stone, continuing to appear as if she didn't have a care in the world. Even as she had her ID looked over, she took out another cigarette and lit it, blowing the smoke into his face. Lt. Stone cast her an annoyed glance before walking back over towards Bulk and Skull, motioning for them to go over to him.

"I need to run this through the system, see if there's anything that's come up lately," he explained and then gave them a long look. "Though considering you two know her, I'm sure there might be something that might come up. Do you want to warn me before it does?"

Bulk thought for a moment. "Sharky used to hang out with us in school," he explained. "For a little while, then I think her parents shipped her out to stay with her Aunt and Uncle because she left. Probably because of all of the trouble we had been getting into."

"Trouble?"

Skull then took up the conversation. "It wasn't anything bad at that point," he reassured his boss. "Not anything we'd be kicked out over, not yet. Just things to pick on the other students. Blow spitballs, start food fights, a little bit of taunting. But nothing so bad."

"Right." Lt. Stone nodded. "Well, I'm going to run this through, please make sure she doesn't run away or something."

"You got it, sir."

Skull puffed out his chest before walking over to his former friend. Once he was out of earshot of Lt. Stone, he addressed Sharky. "What are you doing here? Bulkie and I thought you left Angel Grove."

With a snort, Sharky brushed her long blonde hair from her face and tilted her head to the side. She looked Bulk and Skull up and down before commenting, "Is this your new scheme to try and win over the little pink princess?" Skull rolled her eyes.

Sharky had always been jealous of the attention that Bulk and Skull had given Kimberly and Trini, the former more often than the latter. It wasn't a surprise that her torment was usually directed towards the pink ranger on a daily basis before she had left. Not that the boys had particularly noticed, they had their own things going on with Jason and then Tommy.

"I have to tell you, it's not working," Sharky continued. "I can't really believe you two as police officers." Her eyes shifted. "No matter how many times you save the world from creepy ooze monsters."

Bulk cleared his throat. "Yes, well, we're not talking about us right now, we're talking about you. What happened? One day you were with us and then suddenly you left."

Red lips curling up into a pout, Sharky placed her hands on her hips. "Aww, did you guys miss me?" She gently shook her head. "It's funny I didn't think you could see anything past your noses. Let alone the fact you didn't seem to try and get in touch with me after being sent to juvie."

"You were sent to juvie?" Bulk's eyebrow rose and Skull's eyes nearly popped out. "That's why you left?"

"Petty crime, petty time." Sharky waved it off. "It's not anything so important. But, yes, I was away for a while and that was why. You couldn't have been too busy. No phone calls. No letters. Time just went on for you two and you seem to have turned into something that we were against once upon a time. But I guess you had to go and seem like you were important."

Skull watched Sharky's reaction, not surprised to find that she was reacting the same way he and Bulk had when they had been kicked out of school. They blamed everyone else around them and didn't take a lot of responsibility for themselves apart from having decided to become part of the junior police academy, before having been bumped up to the real police academy; where they still constantly took every day to prove themselves.

"Sharky, we're going to make sure that nothing else happens," He said to her, surprising both her and Bulk. "If you really want to change, like you seem to, then it's not going to help if something as small as this takes you back down a dark path."

Her stunned expression was replaced with one of discontent. "I don't need your help!" She spat.

"Yes, you do," Skull insisted. He waved a hand at Bulk and the two headed back over to Lt. Stone, who had just started to climb back out of his cruiser.

"Just as I thought," he announced. "She does have a record." He shook his head, appearing impressed. "Not even you two have done nearly as much as she has. It's going to be one long process to get her into the system now that she's back in Angel Grove, but I think she could do with the time."

"If we may be so forward, sir," Bulk said. He lowered his gaze slightly, unable to look directly into his boss's eyes. "We'd like to ask you for a favor. Please don't put her into the system. Maybe we can get her hours of community service or something. Clean up the park? The beach…" He trailed off as Lt. Stone gazed at him in confusion.

"Why would I do that?" He demanded quietly, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked back and forth between the two with a critical eye. "Please, enlighten me."

"She's an old friend of ours," Skull explained. "And she's been having a hard time as of late. It's not going to help if she goes back into the system. Please." He looked hard into Lt. Stone's eyes. "That's the only thing I'm asking for."

Lt. Stone sucked in a slow breath before licking his lips. He regarded the two for a moment then nodded. "Right, well…I hope you don't disappoint me. This is the only chance you'll get. I'm holding you responsible for her." He stepped around Bulk and Skull and strode over to Sharky.

Bulk regarded his best friend with a tiny smile on his face, immediately wiping it away when Skull turned to him. But Skull caught the expression on his face and cast him a critical eye. "What?"

"Nothing," Bulk said quickly. "It's just…you're really growing up, Skull!" Bulk made a show of putting his arms around his best friends and crying into his shoulder. "You're really starting to think of people other than yourself!"

Skull laughed loudly, his signature laugh, causing Bulk to grimace, pulling back a little.

"We should work on that laugh, though."

* * *

><p>"So our zords are going to stay like this when we're not fighting?" Rocky asked, watching s his Ape zord, now a miniature size, ran after the frog zord, trying to catch it. In fact, all of the rangers' miniaturized zords were running around acting as if they weren't made of metal, wire, and hydraulics, but acting as if they truly were the animals they represented.<p>

The rangers had been contacted by Billy to get to the Command Center as soon as possible, only a matter of a half hour after he had left to get to work. He had been surprised when he teleported into the Command Center and found Zordon letting out low rumbles of laughter as he watched Alpha run as far as he could around the floor of the Command Center, the zords chasing after him. Billy quickly moved over to Alpha and knelt down, grabbing onto his wolf zord. It easily fit in his hand and ran up his arm before nuzzling the blue ranger's cheek and perching on his shoulder.

"Whoa," he murmured, a small smile on his face. He turned back to Alpha, watching as the robot fell over and the zords all piled on top of him. Eyes widening, the blue ranger hurried over to his friend and helped him into a sitting position. "Alpha, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Billy," Alpha replied. "I just never thought I'd ever be babysitting a set of zords."

"Do you know what made them turn his way?" Billy asked. He smiled, watching as the lion zord leapt on top of the tiger zord and they rolled along the ground. The ape zord stood and punched its fists against its chest while the bear zord sat down and started to scratch its head. "It's not going to impede our use of them in battle is it?"

"As far as we've seen, Billy, the zords seem to have a natural means of increasing and decreasing in size," Zordon said to him. "How, we're not sure of yet. As far as I'm concerned it may be from the Great Power. It'll be that more difficult to destroy these zords than the Thunderzords of before."

Billy nodded and placed his wolf zord on the ground. He crossed his arms as he watched them. It was going to take a while to get some accurate readings on them if they were going to be that small. He explained everything to the rangers once they arrived at the Command Center and now they were just as baffled as he was.

"How does it work though?" The purple ranger scratched her jaw, watching the zords. "Won't that make it hard for us to get some reading and work done on them?" She let out a yelp as her lion zord raced between her feet and then increased to its full size. The other rangers gasped, backing away from the full-formed lion zord. "I take that back, yeah?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," Billy hesitated, placing his hands on his hips. He looked down at his wolf zord as it ran circles around his legs. "I would think that it had something to do with the Healiodore, but even Avalon's stegosaurus zord had managed to do that after having gotten caught by Rita's and Zedd's magic and we didn't have the power of the Healiodore at that point."

"What does it mean for our battles though?" Kimberly had pulled herself up onto a control panel and held out her hands. She smiled, watching the crane zord fly around her before coming nestled in her hands. Seconds later the falcon zord came and perched upon her outstretched hands as well, nuzzling against the crane zord. "Is it, like, a sort of protective plan? To grow smaller before a big attack can get to them?"

"That's what I'm thinking," Billy hesitated. "Though I can't be completely sure about that as well." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry I don't have a lot more information. I just thought you guys should know about it before we went into battle and something went wrong."

"It was a good idea, man," Tommy reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Better to be prepared than go in blind."

"Now that we have that out of the way, we have one more pressing thing we need to address," Avalon pointed out.

Aisha tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What's that?"

The orange ranger turned towards her sister, who continued to sit atop her zord. "How do Fred, Bulk, and Skull know about the Command Center?" She gave her sister a hard stare and the purple ranger grimaced. The younger girl thought for a long moment, trying to come up with a good excuse for it but knew she wouldn't be able to. And Avalon knew it as well; her sister basically had the trait that she could not lie. Not only did Bailey have a big giveaway when she did try to fib, but she usually broke down within a couple of minutes and told the truth anyway. "Out with it, Bay."

"Alright." Bailey tucked her hair behind her ears. "When things were going down back here, I had a lot of help from Fred, Bulk, and Skull to figure out what was going on with the kids and the adults and everything," she explained. "And since you guys were gone and we didn't have the power yet, we didn't have the means to get to and from the Command Center when things were found out. And since we were in such desperate measures, Alpha didn't have a choice but to bring them with me when we he teleported me to the Command Center so that I could bring in a sample of Ivan's Ooze to try and determine what components were in it so that we could find some sort of a cure."

Adam was the first to speak up, and his comment diffused the potential tension that was to fill the Command Center. "I mean, I guess if they don't tell anyone else our secret, it's not a big deal."

"I don't think they were that surprised anyway," Tommy commented. The white ranger cleared his throat, absentmindedly pulling his ponytail through his fingers. "A while ago, Bulk approached me and told me that he and Skull knew for a while that we're rangers."

"They know?!" Rocky's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Bulk and Skull?"

"And Fred," Bailey clarified. "I couldn't keep it from Fred either." She lowered her head, allowing a curtain of hair to cover her face. "And…I think if the Command Center weren't down at the time, I would've lost my powers because I had to reveal my identity…kind of makes me think about Zack."

Avalon made a grunting noise and turned away from her sister. _Thanks for reminding me, Bay. _She caught Adam's eye and saw the frustration that flashed across the current black ranger's face. At least she never had to worry about that; how it would feel to take over someone's spot on the team because of circumstances that couldn't be helped.

"Rangers," Zordon said, grabbing everyone's attention. "As time goes on you're going to find that there are things that aren't fair and hat here are going to be battles you win, battles you lose, and innocent people are going to get caught the crossfire. But I've seen what you all can do. I believe you are going to be the ones that'll save Angel Grove, the Earth, and the universe all the same."

"But what about Rito and Scorpina?" Adam pointed out.

He tried hard not to think about Sabrina but the feeling came back and hit him in the gut. After everything with Ivan Ooze had gone down, after she had been split up from the golden monster, Sabrina had quickly left Angel Grove. There was something she wasn't telling him about what happened to her. And that he couldn't tell her he was a power ranger, h knew deep down it wasn't going to work.

But it had been the first time he had found someone that hadn't cared he was a bit quieter, a bit more serious than other guys around him and it had been ripped away from him because of Rita and Zedd and Ivan. He wouldn't ever let them get away with it, and was actually afraid of what he would do if he found those monsters in front of him again.

"Yeah, and Goldar and Rito," Rocky agreed. The red ranger finally lost the charming smile that was almost always on his face. "They all managed to destroy our zords with little effort. How do we know it's not going to happen again?"

"We won't know," Alpha reminded him. "You just have to have faith in yourselves. You deserve the powers of the ninjetti. It's been inside you and will aid you in battle."

All of a sudden the warning klaxon went off and the rangers turned to the viewing globe, watching as Rito wreaked havoc and destruction amongst Angel Grove. He shot blasts of energy from his eyes, immediately destroying everything in sight.

"Good timing, Alpha," Avalon remarked. "I think you have a sixth sense about these things."

"Fight hard, rangers, and may the power protect you," Zordon said.

"Ninja Ranger Power, now!" Tommy declared and the group went through the motions to activate their new powers.

As the rangers teleported from the Command Center and into battle, Alpha ushered the zords to go back to their launching pads, waiting to be used in battle. He then turned back to Zordon. "Do you think they'll be able to handle Rito and the Tengas? They're stronger than anything the rangers fought before."

"I'll admit I do have some worries of my own," Zordon said. "But I do believe they'll ultimately prevail." He paused for a moment. "Though I wish we had the chance to warn them about the power of the ninjetti, it's a lot stronger than they're used to and will continue to take more energy from them the longer they use it until the energies become linked."

"Oh." Alpha lowered his head. "I hope they'll be okay."

* * *

><p>The gates to the plane opened and a steady stream of people walked off the plane and into the terminal of the Angel Grove airport.<p>

Katherine Hillard let out a happy sigh as she walked over towards a large window and looked out of it, scanning the skyline of the city that waited for her. Nothing was going to stop her now.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Whew, sorry about the wait. But I hope you guys had a great Christmas and I hope you all will have an even greater New Year! I'm really excited for the way this story will continue to go as other story plots come in, now that Bulk and Skull have started theirs and Kat is coming into the picture.

Things pick up in the next chapter.

Thanks to _TaitanoRules55, Adela, Son of Whitebeard, Ashley, TerraHart, _and _brankel1 _ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	13. Chapter 13: Consequences

**Chapter 13**

_Consequences_

* * *

><p>Tommy did a roundhouse kick to the punching bag and followed it up with a straight drive from his elbow. For a few seconds he continued to stand there, elbow pressed against the rough fabric that protected the sand underneath.<p>

Pulling his arm back, the white ranger steadied the swinging bag and pressed his forehead against it. Deep inside he could hear his falcon animal spirit crying out for him in concern, but as he had done after the first few rounds of practicing, he ignored the falcon. What was the point of having the new powers when he couldn't take his thoughts away from the old ones he had? If it hadn't been for him…if he hadn't pushed the zords so hard, they probably would've been able to defeat the ooze men, Rito, Goldar, Scorpina…all of them with little to no problem.

Instead, he allowed them to continue fighting at their full power, more than that, and they ended up imploding. Blowing up, decimating themselves before his and the others' eyes and it had been his choice to make. Sure, Avalon had jumped onto the band wagon right after he had explained the plan, but it had been his decision. _He _was the leader, _he_ was the one that made all of the decisions, _and he _was the one that had given the zords, their friends their death sentence. And if he hadn't done that, they wouldn't have had to go to Phaedos and leave everyone on Earth waiting to figure out how to save themselves while the rangers weren't even sure if they were going to make it back to Earth alive.

It had been more traumatizing than he thought it ever would be. Watching his White Tiger zord break into pieces and cry out for him as it fell to the ground…he had wanted to react like Kimberly had, to scream at the top of his lungs and race towards the White Tiger zord…to do anything in his power he could to pick the pieces up and put them back together. But it was useless, too dangerous. Not only were the monsters that managed to destroy it with a well placed blow still out there, waiting to murder the rangers as they got the chance, but because they had lost their faith in being able to defeat them, with how badly the ooze men had managed to almost tear them apart even before they had morphed.

_What are we going to do if Rito is even stronger than that? _Tommy thought, backing away from the punching bag. He brought his fists up to frame his face, as if there was someone across from him waiting to come at him with the next strike. _We barely managed to get rid of the horoscope monsters, Sagittaria was murdered by Goldar and Scorpina, and if he was that strong…if Rito is stronger…I don't know what'll happen to us. Even with these new powers…_He backed up a few spaces and then spun around to do another roundhouse kick. He caught sight of a blonde teenage girl at the last second and tried to change the trajectory of his foot, but wasn't able to do it fast enough.

He struck the punching bag with his foot and sent it flying back into the girl that had been walking by, looking around at the Youth Center. The punching bag crashed into her, sending her flying to the ground, scattering the contents of her purse. Tommy's mouth dropped open as he grabbed onto the punching bag and steadied it, before hurrying around and kneeling by the girl's side.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized to her. "I wasn't watching to be sure I had all the space…I guess I kind of zoned out a little bit…" he trailed off, grabbing scattered tubes of lipstick and lip gloss, replacing them into the pink purse that rested nearby him. "That's funny; my girlfriend has the same purse."

"Then she has a good sense of style," the girl replied, her voice coming out soft and delicate. Tommy immediately recognized the accent in her voice and turned to her. She looked back at him, brushing her hair from her blue eyes and took the purse he handed out to her. "Thanks." She made sure everything was back inside before standing up. "I guess I didn't know what hit me." She laughed, looking over at the punching bag that was beside her. "Well, I reckon I do know what hit me, but I surely didn't see it coming, yeah?"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tommy apologized once more. He stood up, adjusting his gi, smoothing it down. "I really didn't mean to."

"That's alright, I'm sure it was an accident."

"Yeah…" Tommy quickly wiped sweat off of his hand and held it out towards the girl. "I'm Tommy, by the way. Tommy Oliver."

"I'm Katherine Hillard, nice to meet you, Tommy." Kat shook his hand firmly. "But you can call me Kat, all my friends back in Australia do."

"Is that where you're from?"

"Yeah, my parents and I just moved here. My father got a new job and we had to quickly pack up and come out there." Kat looked around the Youth Center. "I've been here in Angel Grove for a couple of days and so far I still don't know what's going on around here. But I've been told by a lot of people that this place is where everyone likes to hang out so I thought I would get a firsthand look." She brought a hand up to her forehead. "Though I think I got more than I bargained for."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was distracted," Tommy said. He reached over and picked up a towel, drying off his forehead. "I've had a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, I kind of saw that," Kat agreed. She tilted her head to the side. "I reckon I don't mean to speak out of turn, but it really seemed like you were having trouble figuring something out. Did you…want to talk about it?"

Tommy sorted slightly. Did he want to talk about it? He wanted nothing more than to stop the nightmares of the Oozemen and Ivan, the constant thoughts of what he could've done better to keep them from having suffered such great devastation would be helpful. But to say it to someone who hadn't been in on the same experiences, let alone telling the other rangers when he had to be strong for them, that wasn't an option. No matter how much he wanted to be able to get it off his chest.

"Thanks, but this is something I have to work through on my own," he said. He tilted his head and led Kat towards the counter, where Ernie was dusting off the counter. "Ernie, could I get a pineapple-banana smoothie?" He pulled himself up onto a stool and motioned the one next to him for Katherine to take, which she did with a warm smile of gratitude. "And this is Kat, she'd like a…"

"Um." Kat brought a hand up and tapped a finger against her lips as she looked at the menu over her head. After a moment of indecisiveness, she turned back to Tommy. "What would you suggest? I don't really know what they serve here."

"Right, I forgot about that," Tommy said. He turned back to Ernie and ordered a double pineapple banana smoothie before shifting to face Kat. "So you're from Australia?"

Kat nodded. She gently kicked her foot back and forth. "From Sydney, actually. I've lived there all my life with my Mom and Dad. It's a really great place to live, actually. Have you ever been there?"

"On our last school trip. Actually my sister…well, she's not my sister, not yet…she's from Australia, too. And when we went on the trip we went and stayed at her place and saw the sights and everything. It really is a beautiful place."

"Oh your sister is from Australia?"

"Well, she's not my sister yet." Tommy bobbed his head back and forth as he tried to think of a quick way to explain it. "My parents are adopting her and her sister. But they're from Australia too, maybe you know them? Avalon and Bailey Mitchell?"

Kat thought for a moment then slowly shook her head. "No, sorry. I don't think I've ever met them before."

"Well, they also go by the names Cadence and Abigail…"

"Sorry. I mean, the name sounds familiar, but I don't think I know them." Kat smiled in an understanding way. "Australia's a big place, there're so many people I haven't met before. But I'm sure it'd be nice to meet them, it's always great to find some home when you're away from home. I'd like to meet them."

"I'm sure they'd like to meet you too, and then my other friends, Adam, Rocky, Aisha, Billy, and Kimberly. We're all going to the park later today, with Bailey's friend Fred if you want to come with us." Tommy turned back to Ernie and picked up the smoothie that was held out towards him. He picked up the plastic cup and turned back to Kat, holding it up. "I hope you have a good time here in Angel Grove."

Kat's eyes flashed as she held her cup towards him. "I hope so too. Cheers." The two clinked their cups together and Kat moved the straw to her mouth, taking a long sip. The blend of pineapple and banana reminded her of home in some ways, though she realized she was going to have to push those thoughts aside. Especially if she was going to be in Angel Grove for the unforeseeable future. "So, you seem to have a lot going on," she remarked. "All of your friends, martial arts…" she paused. "You said you had a girlfriend?"

"Oh yeah, Kimberly," Tommy said. He brought his hands down and rested them on his knees, as his feet started to bob up and down on the edge his stool. "She's great. We've been together for a while now. Frankly, I'm surprised she was even interested in me when I first moved here."

"Oh, you're not from Angel Grove?" Kat looked interested.

"No, my parents and I are from Los Angeles. I moved here a couple of years ago. I thought it was going to be hard to fit in, and, like you, I was worried about coming to a new place and fitting in and everything. But the people here are really nice, and soon you'll feel like you've always lived here. Like there was no other place to be." He held up a hand. "But I have to warn you about the monster attack."

Now Kat looked surprised then concerned. "Monster attacks?"

"Yeah, that really threw me for a loop, too." The white ranger ran a hand through his hair. "Every now and then there are monsters that attack the city. But Angel Grove has a really great evacuation plan and—"

"—and the power rangers. That's something I couldn't stop hearing about even from the airport. Something about them having saved the entire city, after there had been some ooze monsters around." She shuddered, bringing her hands up to her arms and rubbing them a little. "Sounds scary. But if what they say about the power rangers is true, then I'm sure it's not going to be a problem to think of it as normal."

Tommy smiled and laughed in agreement. He took another swig of his smoothie seconds before a pair of dainty hands covered his eyes and the scent of flowery perfume entered his space. He didn't need to even guess who it was; his whole body reacted to it. He always came alive whenever Kimberly came around him; the way she smelled, the way she smiled at him, how she fluttered her eye lashes, the way she pouted at him whenever she wanted to get her way on some things, her exuberant spirit and passion for life, all of it turned him on in ways he never imagined would be possible before he had met her. He had gone out on dates before, but they weren't as fun as the ones he had with Kimberly.

He knew he was nothing short of in love with her and despite the fact they were young he knew they would be together for a long time. If Rita, Zedd, and monsters couldn't beat them down, nothing would.

"Guess who!" Kimberly's voice crooned in his ear.

"Hey Beautiful." Tommy reached up and pulled Kimberly's hand down from his eyes.

He kissed her hand before pulling her around to his front and looping an arm around her waist. Noticing that his hand fell onto her thigh more than the familiar, warm skin of her waist Tommy looked down at her, noticing for the first time in a while that Kimberly looked great. He had noticed that she lost a bit of weight but was afraid of saying anything on because he hadn't wanted to upset her in some way.

Plus he had seen how his mother had banished his father to the couch after he had made a comment about her weight and never wanted to make that mistake. Even as Kimberly moved to his side he could hear the falcon now make a cry of happiness, now that it was reunited with the crane. He could feel it deep inside, almost as if the crane were a part of him as well.

Leaning over, the white ranger kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "How're you doing today? I thought we were going to meet up at the park."

Kimberly gave him a 'duh' look before reaching up and knocking on his forehead. "Uh, hello, Tommy. Yes, we were going to meet at the park, but that was about an hour ago. C'mon space cadet, you said you weren't going to forget."

Tommy tilted his head to the side as he thought about it. He had remembered making the plans to go to the park, he remembered that he was supposed to bring a few packages of potato salad, but he hadn't remembered the time they were supposed to get there. Even as Kimberly continued to watch him, Tommy lifted his arm and glanced at his watch, eyes widening. He really _was _late, a habit he was trying hard to break.

"God, you're right," he said. He ran a hand over his face for a moment. "Look, I have to get changed really fast, and then we can get going." He started to get off of the stool and then noticed Kat, who tried to busy herself while the rangers had their conversation. "Oh, I'm sorry. Kim, this is Katherine. Katherine, this is my girlfriend Kimberly."

The pink ranger turned to Kat and gave her best smile and stuck out her hand. "Hi, you can call me Kim."

"You can call me Kat," Kat replied. She shook Kimberly's hand with the same amount of enthusiasm that the pink ranger showed. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. Tommy has had a lot of good things to say about you and Angel Grove. It's already like I've been here forever."

"Oh you're new here?" Kimberly looped her arm around Tommy's and smiled sympathetically at Kat. "Where are you from? I hope Angel Grove hasn't been too hard on you. I know that coming to a new place can be really hard."

"Yeah, I already got that spiel from Tommy." Kat's lips curled up into a small smile. "I'm from Australia. Tommy, actually, invited me to come with you guys at the park. I hope that's all right. If not, I reckon I can go home and make sure I have all of my school supplies and my schedule for when school starts again. I thought coming to a new place was hard, but doing it in my senior year?"

Kimberly gave Kat a sympathetic smile, reaching out and grabbing onto Kat's hand. "I know what you mean. But Angel Grove is really nice. Why don't you come to the park with us? That way you'll get a chance to meet our friends and during your first day at Angel Grove High you won't be so alone."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

Kimberly turned back to Tommy and the white ranger nodded in agreement.

"Well, okay." Kat stood up from her stool and slid her purse over her shoulder. "Before we go, I just need to tell my Mom and Dad where I'll be. I'll…meet you out front, okay?"

Tommy and Kimberly nodded and waited as Kat went over to the payphones and started to put in money for a call. It wasn't until the pink ranger turned around and regarded the white ranger with a raised eyebrow that Tommy realized the groan he had mentally thought of he had made out loud. At her glance, he explained, "I was just hoping that one the way there we could have some time alone. I mean, no offense to our friends and everything, but I haven't had some time with just for a while now."

"I think you should be complaining about the monsters, more than our friends, Tommy," Kimberly said with a smirk. Tommy rolled his eyes as Kimberly reached out and looped her arms around his waist. "But I do get your point. Do you know how hard it is not to want to jump you whenever I see you in your new ninjetti suit?"

Tommy blinked in surprise at Kimberly's boldness. Not that he wasn't enticed by the idea, but that while she was usually pretty open about what she was feeling about things, she hadn't always been that confident. When the two were around each other, their relationship was mostly innocent afraid to take the next step or push things further in case they were moving too quickly for the other person. Their own insecurities had a bit of a strain on their relationship as well; it was a welcome change thought it still managed to shock him.

"No, I didn't know that," he said. "But it's good to hear."

"And besides, she's new here. You remember what it was like when _you _were new." She looked around before lowering her voice. "Apart from the whole, evil green ranger thing. But it couldn't have been as hard. You'll see, she'll meet all of our friends and things will go back to normal."

"As 'normal' as can be around us, right?"

"Right." Kimberly gave him a kiss then took a step back, wiping off her lips. "Now go get a shower, you really smell."

Tommy gave her a mock salute and picked up his things. He went to the locker room and quickly shed out of his practice clothes and got into the shower. As he stood under the running water the thoughts he had tried to keep at bay came back. The destruction of the Command Center, the death of Zordon, the destruction of the zords, traveling to Phaedos, eating all of the squirbs, working to practice the strengths they gained from their animal spirits, ultimately defeating Ivan…

All of the pain and the emotions that he had kept bottled up throughout the journey…it finally burst forth and as he stood in the shower, starting to cry, Tommy wondered if he really had what it took to be the leader of the power rangers.

* * *

><p>"Avalon Mitchell here for Lt. Stone," Avalon said, walking to the front desk of the AGPD. She waited impatiently as the officer standing at the front desk picked up the phone and called to Lt. Stone's office. After what felt like hours, but was really on a few minutes, the orange ranger turned at the sound of footsteps heading her way and lifted her chin when she spotted Lt. Stone.<p>

"Avalon Mitchell," Lt. Stone greeted her. "I was hoping that I wasn't going to see you anytime soon. Please tell me that you haven't decided to quit school, too."

"Are Bulk and Skull too much for you to handle?" Avalon shot back.

"They've seemed to calm down a bit, after having gotten back in touch with their friend Sharky." Lt. Stone came to a stop in front of her, taking off his hat. "Or Alicia as her name really is. It must've been a big reality check, to see what would've happened to them if they kept acting the way they did. They were one step away from getting in jail themselves."

"Yeah…" Avalon slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "But this is really good for them. I can tell. I'm really proud of what they've managed to accomplish. What with helping save the city and everything."

At those words, Lt. Stone motioned for her to follow him back to his office. "I thought that the power rangers had a big part of that as well, but that's just my opinion." He flashed the orange ranger a smile as they entered his office and he closed the door behind him. Avalon made a humming sound, glancing over her shoulder before it closed the whole way. "Relax, Avalon, I've kept yours and Bailey's secret. I understand it's a secret for a reason and I don't want to jeopardize it."

Sitting down in the seat across from Lt. Stone's desk, Avalon nodded. "I reckon it wouldn't sound great if news got out that you found me on the ground in the middle of gang land anyway." She paused, looking directly into his eyes. "By the way, what excuse _did _you give for that night?"

Lt. Stone and Avalon regarded each other for a long, tense moment. Finally, he leaned forward, lacing his hands together and placing them atop his desk. "Is there something I should know, Miss. Mitchell?"

Avalon took a deep breath, briefly wondering why she had even brought it up to Lt. Stone. She had done a good job of keeping everything at bay before she had gotten the police involved. She had kept herself and Bailey in an apartment with little to no problems; she had slowly started to break away from Chase's hold over her, and had been able to do it when there wasn't police around and form the help of her friends.

How would this be seen?

If Skye and Summer knew what she was doing, that they had been tattled upon and everyone around her was targeted, what would that mean as a way to repay them?

She would just be bringing them into trouble once again. And if there was one thing Avalon hated more than being proven wrong, it was when the people she cared about the most were put in danger. Especially over things she could've avoided.

"I'm just letting there know that if there is something and you don't tell us…and something else happens, it won't behoove you to tell us what had happened at a later date. In fact, it would make you appear to be even guiltier than the guilty party."

"I know." Avalon lowered her head. "I've been arrested a few times before…I know what can happen." She let out a breath, lifting her head. "Uh, not too long ago. Summer and Skye attacked me. I don't know how they managed to do it, but they're back in Angel Grove. I think they want revenge against me and I don't know what to do."

Lt. Stone regarded Avalon with a blank expression before slowly shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Avalon, but that's impossible. We have police tracking their every move and so far, according to the tags we have on them, they haven't left the state of Montana for a while now."

"Montana? What's in Montana?"

"Nothing. But that's the point. There are enough farm lands, barns, fields for them to keep themselves hidden if on the run. Not only that, but by this point they may have changed their appearance to keep themselves from being caught."

"They did that, too," the orange ranger insisted. "They grew out their hair…changed their hair color…lost weight. Anything to keep from being recognized. But I knew it was them as soon as I saw them."

Licking his lips, Lt. Stone leaned back in his seat. "And you're sure it wasn't the High Flyers?"

"They weren't wearing purple, besides; I know all of the High Flyers. It wasn't them." She shook her head impatiently. "You're not listening to me. They're back here, yeah? I _know_ it. They chased me through the alleyways and up onto a fire escape. I haven't needed to run like that since I was actually _in _the Vipers and I didn't plan on doing it ever again." Copying the man's movements, Avalon leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, her foot bobbing up and down. "Can you please at least check?" Her voice came out higher, shriller than she had originally intended.

Lt. Stone held up a hand. "Don't worry, Avalon. I'm just trying to get some information before I dispatch the man power. I'll look into it. Besides it's the least I could do for all of the help you've given me." He shook his head. "I still can't get that…demon monster out of my head."

Avalon slowly nodded, trying not to wince. Diabolico. Not only had he managed a lasting memory on Lt. Stone, and probably Bulk and Skull as well, but he had been the one that had taken away Avalon's older half brother Ryan, when he was only a little boy, and then helped in the plan that resulted in the death of Billy's mother. It was a name she hoped she never had to hear again, not when there was so much damage surrounding it.

"I would've done it even without my powers, Lt. Stone," the orange ranger said honestly. "You, Bulk, and Skull have helped me out a lot. It would be the least I could do." She looked at her watch before standing up. "I hope you find something about Summer and Skye. It'd put my mind at ease for once." She stepped back into a corner of the room and gave Lt. Stone a quick wave before bringing up her communicator and teleporting to the park.

She arrived behind a line of hedges and circled around them, heading over to her friends, who had a bunch of picnic blankets and food set up. Rocky spotted her and threw a football her way. Avalon jumped up, reaching over her head to catch it, but it easily sailed over her head and landed on the ground behind her.

"A little help?" Adam, who the ball was meant for, called over to her.

Avalon turned and grabbed the ball. Instead of throwing it back, she walked it over to the black ranger and tossed it to him, only a few feet away. "I'd throw it back, but then you'd realize that I'm actually not amazing at everything that you already think I am."

"You have an amazing sense of modesty, Ava, I can tell you that," Billy called to her, standing a few feet to her right, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for his chance at the ball. In return, the orange ranger stuck her tongue out at him before giving him the finger, which caused him to laugh in return.

"You really don't know how to play?" Adam asked, tossing the ball back and forth between his hands.

"I know how to play; I'm just too short to be good at it."

"Girl, don't be dissing the shorties," Aisha said with a playful wage of her finger. "Not only can I play football, but I'm better than the guys here." She held out her hands and Adam tossed the ball over to her. "Besides, we need to get these guys in shape before the next season starts so…I propose we play keep away!"

Aisha turned and started to sprint across the field, Rocky, Adam, and Billy immediately taking after her. Avalon, and Bailey and Fred who had been sitting on the picnic blankets nearby, got into the game and started to run around with their friends as well. Aisha quickly passed the ball over to Avalon, who started to sprint in the opposite direction, taking the boys to follow after her, before she handed the ball over to Bailey. Despite how quickly she ran, Adam easily caught up to the purple ranger and lifted her up into his arms, spinning her around.

"Okay, okay!" Bailey cried. "Put me down before I puke!" The black ranger placed her back on the ground and she quickly handed the ball over to Fred, who threw it to Billy as the boys started to pass it back and forth. "If that's what being on the field is like, then I don't want to be a football player."

"Let's get the rest of the stuff out so it can be ready by the time Tommy and Kim get here," Aisha suggested.

"Fine by me," Avalon agreed, holding up her hands. "The last thing I need is to get beat up even further." She picked up a folded blanket and started to shake it out, missing the looks of confusion Aisha and Bailey exchanged. The three finished setting up the food and blankets and as they were about to join the guys in a game of basketball, Bailey spotted Tommy and Kimberly heading their way.

"Hey! They're here!" She waved towards them before hurrying over. "Tommy! Kim! Hey!"

"Hey guys." Kimberly waved back before looping her arm through Tommy's, leaning into his side. "Sorry we're late, Tommy lost track of time again."

"And I thought you were doing better with that, man," Billy said with a mock shake of his head. He reached out and nudged Tommy' side. "Looks like we're going to have to put a bell around your neck. At least it'll match hers." He put his arm around Avalon's shoulders, causing the shorter girl to roll her eyes.

"Please, I'm already recognized by face at most places, I don't need to bring even more attention to myself." The orange ranger put her arm around Billy's waist and leaned into him in response, causing the blue ranger to blush lightly.

Adam then took a step forward, nodding over to Katherine, who stood at the side of the group, quietly holding onto her purse. "So who have you got there?"

"Right, guys, this is Katherine, Kat. Kat this is Adam, Aisha, Rocky, Billy, Avalon, her sister Bailey, and her friend Fred." Tommy gestured through the large group of friends, introducing them all. Kat smiled and waved to the large group, appearing timid. "We invited her to have a picnic with us, if that's alright."

"That's cool, the more the merrier," Rocky said with a wave of his hand. "We were just playing a game of basketball to get an appetite. Are you guys in?"

"Well, I haven't played in a while, but it sounds like fun," Kat agreed. She put her purse down on the ground and followed the rangers as they started to split themselves up to play the game. And for the next hour the rangers and Fred and Kat ran back and forth along the basketball court as they played the game. Every now and then the rangers would show off a bit with high jumps and quick passes, stemming from their new powers which, thankfully, no one questioned.

They continued to play as long as they could until their hunger finally got the best of them. Then the rangers had gone back over to the picnic blankets and started to pass out their food.

"So, Av, Bay, Kat is from Australia too," Tommy said to the orange and purple rangers. "From Sydney. Maybe you knew each other back home."

Avalon and Bailey exchanged glances, their noses wrinkling in unison. It was Bailey that spoke. "I don't think so," she said. "Not only is it that not every Aussie knows each other, but she doesn't look that familiar."

"What's your last name?" Avalon asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Hillard," Kat supplied.

"I don't think we met before…but your name _does _sound really familiar," Avalon commented. She rubbed her neck, noticing that Kat's eyes moved down to the tattoo on the inside of her wrist. "Were you ever in the newspaper for something?"

"Me? No." Kat quickly shook her head, dismissing the question. "I'm not good at anything, not enough to be put into the paper. I reckon it's a very silly idea."

"No, it's not," Fred defended her. "Everyone's good at something. You shouldn't put yourself down about it."

Kat started to change the subject when there was a loud squawking sound caught the rangers' attention. They looked over in time to see a hoard of Tenga warriors heading their way, screeching and squaking, waving their arms as they went. Kat quickly scrambled to her feet, mouth dropping open as she watched the warriors. "What are those things?"

Fred looked at the rangers out of the corner of his eye. They weren't going to be able to do anything if he and Kat were around. "Not anything we want to let get too close," he said. Standing up, he grabbed onto Kat's hand. "Let's get out of here, they can handle this."

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah, you guys go," Tommy said. "We can handle this."

The rangers waited until Fred and Kat were out of sight before falling into formation. "Ninja Ranger Power, now!" The rangers swung their arms around in a sweeping arc, electrical currents of their colors coming off of their fingers seconds before they morphed into their new ninjetti gis.

Rocky leapt forward and pounded his fists against his chest before scaling the nearest tree to him. He got up onto the lowest branch, watching as the Tengas jumped into the tree branches next to him. Doing a judo sweep, the knocked a few back out of the tree before turning aside and leaping at the closest tenga to him and knocked it out of the tree, pile-driving it into the ground.

Adam, using the powers of the frog, waved his arms back and forth, fending off the attacks the tenga sent his way. "You'll have to move quicker than that!" He declared, continuing to move his arms back and forth. Finally, he shifted behind the tengas and did a roundhouse kick, knocking them to the ground.

Aisha laughed as she stood still, her arms crossed over her chest. The tengas continued to run at her over and over, trying to knock her to the ground with a quick blast of their wings and a direct hit of their beak. She continued to laugh until she grew tired of the tengas heading her way. Planting her feet on the ground, Aisha swung her arm forward and clothes lined the tengas in a straight line, knocking them over.

Billy closed his eyes as he listened to the tengas flying around him. His eyes snapped open when he heard the sound of a tenga heading towards him. He did a low kick to knock a few tengas off of their feet and then placed his hands on the ground, flipping over and jumping high into the air, doing a split and kicking two tengas in the face. He then grabbed onto the wing of the remaining tenga and flipped it over onto the ground.

Avalon crouched low to the ground, watching as the tenga swooped around her in a circle that decreased in size, like buzzards waiting for their prey. They continued to move in closer and Avalon quickly got to her feet and brought her foot up in a high kick, knocking a tenga in the face. The hit was so solid, using the power of her animal spirit, and sent the tenga flying backwards. She spun around and, gaining momentum, did a butterfly kick and smacked another tenga in the stomach. She bounced off of a large rock that was nearby and launched herself backwards and into the tenga behind her, knocking it out.

Bailey and Tommy moved back to back and moved in a small circle as they kept an eye on the tengas around her. Then Bailey rolled over Tommy's back and did her series of kata against the tengas, knocking them over with a series of punches and kicks. Tommy took care of the tenga on the other side, with a series of high jump, spinning kick, eight of them in a row. The two then followed each other in a series of kicks in unison, knocking the tenga back onto the ground.

"Gotta fly!" Kimberly quickly and gracefully jumped high into the air, causing the tengas to crash into each other. When she landed back on the ground, she surged forward and struck the tengas in the chest, then quickly circled back and did a series of backhand springs over to the others. As it swung out a wing, trying to hit her, she ducked out of the way and did a cartwheel before doing a splitting jump and kicking the tenga back. She flipped forward and kicked the tengas in the stomach in a series of kick and they fell to the ground once more.

The rangers then came together as the tengas quickly got up and flew away.

"Great job guys," Tommy said to his friends. "Power down!" The rangers demorphed and looked around. "Looks like the tengas didn't want to stick around for a better fight," he noted. "You all fought well," he added in his most authoritative voice. He didn't understand it; being a leader came so easily to him, he never questioned his motives before. Why now?

"What was that about?" Aisha scratched the back of her head. "They didn't even really put up a fight."

"With Rita and Zedd who knows," Billy remarked. "But we can't let out guards down."

"Not even to eat?" Rocky asked, which caused eye rolls and laughter from his friends.

* * *

><p>Kat, who had been watching nearby, smiling as she gazed at the rangers standing in a tight circle, conversing amongst themselves. Her eyes flashed red and she turned her head to the side as there was a warping sound and Rito appeared by her. "Yes?" She asked, evil smile dropping.<p>

"Just making sure you did what you were supposed to do," Rito replied. "We had orders." His skeletal hand moved towards the hilt of his sword, gently tapping on it. "Did you find them?"

"Yes, I did," Kat replied. "It was easier than I thought it would be. They took me in pretty quickly." She smiled evilly at Rito. "The rangers won't know what hit them."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Just so you all know the rating of this story is going to change to 'M' soon and because of that, it won't appear on the public lists for the fandom so you'd need to add me/this story to alerts or favorites to see it when it is changed. I'll give you warning in the chapter right before the change just so you won't be blindsided.

And, just so you all know, what with my upcoming schedule for next semester in school I won't have a set updating schedule. I'll still update twice a week, but I don't have specific days for it. Also, would you like updates to be shorter and more frequent or keep what I'm doing now?

_In Too Deep_ will be updated soon. Also, if there's anything you want to see in that story or this one, I'll be glad to listen to suggestions.

Thanks to _I love power rangers7135, XoxMountainGirlxoX, Son of Whitebeard, Adela, TaitanoRules555, Ashley, brankel1, TerraHart, and Rose Specktor_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	14. Chapter 14: Truth Turned Out To Be a Lie

**Chapter 14**

_Truth Turned Out To Be a Lie_

* * *

><p>"Rockwell!"<p>

_Not again. _Rocky turned onto his side and pulled his pillow up over his ear. Or, at least, he tried. It barely came up to his ear, unlike the pillow he already had on his bed. That, and the smell of frying bacon, immediately caught his attention

Pushing himself up, Rocky rubbed his eye as he glanced around the living room, suddenly realizing he hadn't been in his room at all. Surprisingly, he had become so dead to the world that he hadn't noticed that his mother had been calling him. Now she stood above him, holding onto a spatula in one hand and a slipper in the other. Noticing the slipper, Rocky immediately recoiled, moving a hand up as if to block his face.

"No, mami, please not the slipper. Lo siento!" Rocky then glanced up at her in confusion. "Wait, what am I apologizing for?"

"Well, not only are you drooling on my couch!" Mrs. DeSantos replied, wagging her slipper at Rocky, who finally sat up, draping a blanket across his legs. "But you forgot to go to the store like I asked you to. _And _I thought you were going to take your brothers and sisters to their friends' houses."

"Was I?" Rocky ran his hands over his face, trying to remember what he had been told within the past few days but be couldn't keep it straight. Not only had he needed to get ready to go back to school for the next week, but Rita and Zedd had been throwing down more and more monsters and Tenga fights than any of them anticipated having to be in. Left and right he had to throw out plans to go fight off the Tengas using the new ranger powers.

And not only that, but he had to deal with the fact that his zord was around a lot more often than his tyrannosaurus zord was. His new ape zord was pocket size so he was able to have it with him nearly every second of the day and hiding that from his family was a lot worse than hiding being a ranger. Not only would he had to explain what the ape zord was, and that it was a toy but not a sort of toy that was supposed to be played with, and then explaining why he was always gone…

It was starting to become too much, so much to the point that he was starting to wonder if he was becoming as bad as Tommy was when it came to remembering things. _Nah, Rocky, that's not possible, _the red ranger reminded himself. _You're never late to things and the only time you forget something is when a lot of food is involved. Because, let's face it, nothing is better than a good meal. _He frowned. _Speaking of…_

"I'm really sorry, Mom, I've just been so busy," he explained. "I mean, it's my last year of high school, I can't…I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around things you know." He lowered his chin. "Especially since we don't know if I can go to college…" he trailed off and his mother let out a quiet sigh, sitting down beside her son on the couch.

Mrs. DeSantos reached over and pushed back her son's hair, looking into his eyes. "You know we're going to be doing our best to get you to college, you know I'm trying hard."

"I _do _know that," Rocky agreed. "I mean, you're already working two jobs and taking care of me and the little ones, but you can't do it all yourself. Please, let me get a job. _Something_."

"No, Rocky. I already told you that your senior year is about having fun and being with your family, I'm not going to have you jeopardize that just so you can slave away and work. I know how important this thing is for kids your age and I don't want you to miss out on that."

"I know, but—"

"Now, shush. Your brothers and sister are out and I have the house quiet for once. I need to make sure that my pico de gallo doesn't start to wilt before it's finished." Mrs. DeSantos got up from the couch and headed towards the kitchen. The red ranger got up behind her and followed behind like a puppy attracted to the scent of a bone. "Nothing is worse than a wilted pico de gallo."

"Mmm, I agree with that," Rocky agreed. He suddenly paused and his face darkened.

Not that it was any different to suddenly have a large lunch made for him and his siblings, but there was something different about his mother. She hadn't always been against him getting a job, in fact there were many times before that she wand _wanted _him to get a good job just so there was something he could fall back on if schooling didn't work out. And more often than not, he would've gotten a good swat to the head for being so forgetful, but she had become so relaxed about it.

No, not relaxed.

Nervous.

He could see her hands shaking as she continued to mix the ingredient in the food that cooked on the stove top. She was _never _nervous and that was something he really admired about his mother, apart from her strong work ethic. It was a strange sight to see her so nervous and the only thing that made her nervous was her ex-husband. Well, he was still her husband, they had never gotten divorced. But he had still walked out o all of them, which was the part that had angered Rocky the most. That he had just up and left with no explanation and no ways of getting into contact with him.

"Mami?" It was the only thing he had to say before his mother closed her eyes and tilted her head forward out of shame. Rocky reached out and placed his hand on his mother's shoulder, feeling it tremble under his touch.

"Your father is coming over today, Rocky," Mrs. DeSantos said quietly. She lifted her head and went back to cooking, ignoring the stunned look that flashed across the red ranger's face. "It's been a long time since he's seen all of us and he said he wanted to talk about something things."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I don't know what to believe, but you know how important family is to me."

Rocky nodded and leaned in, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek. He rubbed her shoulders for a minute before turning and going up the stairs to his room. Closing the door behind him, Rocky flopped down onto his bed, only sitting up when he heard a sudden strangled cry. Looking down, he watched as the ape zord poked its head out of the pocket of his jeans and made a couple of angry grunting sounds before walking up and down Rocky's chest and stomach on his hands and feet, stopping every now and then to pound its chest.

The red ranger smiled as he watched the zord. It was so strange to know that something so small had so much power in it. Strange to know that it could get so big and help him and the rangers out like their last zords had done in a matter of minutes.

_But that's like you isn't it? _He reminded himself. When he was younger he didn't have a lot of power in himself, only having just started to take martial arts classes, mostly as a means to be able to defend himself and his family whenever his father did come back. And now…he felt like a little kid all over again, with no means for protecting himself and his brothers and sisters. _But now you have the chance to defend everyone from him. He doesn't have to be around if you don't want him to be._

Still, Rocky couldn't help but feel that shred of fear he had felt whenever his father was still around. Sure, in a way he had been upset when his father had left, he did love the man. But he was also very grateful when he knew that his father was gone for good. And now that he was coming back…crippling fear took over once more.

He started to sweat, skin felt clammy, heart thumped against his chest. Moving up into a sitting position, the ape zord clinging to the front of Rocky's shirt, Rocky ran his hands over his face. He wiped away the sweat and did his best to try and calm himself down but nothing was working. Then he glanced at his wrist, covered by a sweatband and he pulled it down from his wrist, showing off a few lines that were starting to become scars. The first cut had turned into a scar, the most recent cut still a bit puffy and red. Running his fingers over the skin of the cut, Rocky's breaths started to become shallower until he couldn't ignore the pain in his chest.

Reaching over, he picked up the mathematical compass he had resting on his desk and turned the sharpened end to his wrist, pressing it against his skin. He took a deep breath and slowly pulled it back against his skin, watching as a red line of blood appeared in its wake. All of the pain slowly moved out of him as the blood beaded up and rolled from his wrist down into the crook of his elbow. Not being entirely gone, Rocky cut again and again until he felt hat every bad feeling, every bad though had finally worked its way out of his body.

His shoulders slumped in resolve, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. Cleaning off the blood with a couple of tissues, the red ranger did his best to calm himself down before he blotted with tissues and put a dab of anti-bacterial medication on it. He waved out his wrist for a few seconds before sliding the sweatband back down over the cuts. Soon he wasn't going to have a good enough way to cover the scars unless he started to wear long sleeves all the time. Then there would be the questions he'd have to field from his friends…

_They already have enough to worry about; I don't want to make them have to deal with this either, _Rocky thought. He was suddenly alerted to the sound of the front door opening and the sound of his brothers and sisters coming into the house, their footsteps echoing off the walls accompanied by their laughter. But then it all stopped and there was an eerie silence. Alarmed, Rocky got to his feet and hurried downstairs, stopping so quickly on the last few steps that he nearly collapsed and fell to the bottom of the stairs.

He gazed at the man that stood in the doorway, the man that bore a striking resemblance to Rocky, though he had a harsher look in his face. Nevertheless his eyes were soft, as if the fire that used to reside in them had finally been cooled. But who knew if it had been completely extinguished or was just lying dormant until something ignited it one more.

"Dad," Rocky said in a low breath.

Mr. DeSantos looked over at his eldest son, eyebrows rising for a moment. Maybe he hadn't expected Rocky to be there…or maybe he had been surprised to see that the boy he had last seen when he was only eight years old was now a man. A man that saved the world on a daily basis and a man that was willing to do the same for his family when the time came.

"Hello, Rocky."

* * *

><p>"So what are you going to wear?"<p>

Avalon ran a brush through her hair with her right hand while using her left to keep her cell phone against her ear. "I'm already dressed, actually," she said. "I'm wearing black jeans, an orange and white striped tank-top and a black vest."

"Oh, that sounds cute," Kimberly squealed. "I like the idea of it."

"You should, you were the one that helped me pick it out at the mall a couple of months ago. I just never had a reason to wear it." The orange ranger turned from her mirror, gently lowering it to her desktop and leaned over to pull on her shoes. "Until now anyway." She let out a quiet sigh.

"Okay, now you're making me feel weird, you don't really sound too happy," Kimberly noted. She then gasped loudly, causing Avalon to bring her phone away from her ear, hoping she would keep her hearing intact. "Cadence Mitchell, don't tell me that you're thinking of changing your mind on this date. You and Billy are perfect together. I saw a kiss from you two that set the sky on fire."

"Firstly, Pinkerbell, don't call me Cadence, only my Mom does and I don't really enjoy it when other people do. Secondly, boofhead, there were fireworks, so of course it seemed like the sky was on fire. Though in your fantasy world I'm sure everything resembling love you have something to do with so I'm not going to hold my breath."

The pink and orange rangers laughed before Avalon fell silent, running her fingers along her neck. "It's not really anything, I guess, just a couple of things I've been working through lately. Nothing too important, just trying to figure out getting Mom back out here and seeing her and Dad and everything. It's kind of weird, wanting to be so close to them, but also knowing that I'm going to be adopted by another family."

"They did say it was better for you and Bailey," Kimberly pointed out. "So as weird as it is, they're still thinking of you and your well being."

"I guess," Avalon agreed. She looked at her watch. "So I have to get going, I'll talk to you later."

"Of course, of course. But don't forget to call me and Aisha after your guys' date is done. We want to hear everything. We'll be at the Youth Center with Tommy and Adam if you guys want to stop by when you're done."

"Something tells me I don't really have a choice in the matter."

"No, you really don't."

"I see you're taking a page out of my book. But just so you know it's copyrighted so you can't plagiarize." Avalon laughed and hung up her phone. She finished putting on her shoes and grabbed her wallet and keys before leaving her room. Turning off the light behind her she started downstairs.

Billy, who was sitting at the kitchen table talking quietly with his father, looked up as the orange ranger approached and smiled when he spotted her. He stood, pushing his chair back. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," Avalon agreed with a smile. "Totally ready."

"Okay." Billy turned back to his father, who stood, and gave him a hug. "We'll see you later, Dad. Try not to stay up too late, alright?" David smiled and nodded but didn't otherwise reply. He walked the blue and orange rangers to the door and closed and locked it behind them as they went down the front steps and over to Billy's truck.

"So how do you think he's doing?" Avalon asked the blue ranger. She frowned when he busied himself with his keys, as if looking for the one that went to his truck. Knowing he didn't want to answer, she changed the subject before reaching out and snatching the keys from his hand. "Can I drive?" Billy raised a playful eyebrow and reached out to take the keys back from her but she pulled them further from his reach.

"Do you have your license?" He replied.

"Yes."

Pausing, he studied her. "Your _California_ license?"

"Yes!" Avalon moved her hand behind her back, still holding onto the keys. "And I promise that it's an actual license." She tilted her head to the side. "The picture is kind of bad, but I promise it's a legal license." Crossing his arms, Billy continued to look at Avalon. She smiled sweetly at him. "You're really not going to get your way on this one, Smurf. I can be really stubborn about this sort of thing."

"Really? I hadn't noticed?" Billy took another lunge for the keys and Avalon placed a hand on his chest, holding him back, holding out her other hand and dangling the keys, gently shaking them for a few seconds. "Fine, Ava. You can drive."

"Yes!" Avalon cheered and went over to the driver's side of the truck and unlocked it, hopping inside. As soon as she was in the seat, her eyes widened, noticing how she could barely see over the steering wheel. Frowning, she adjusted the seat in as many different positions as she could as Billy sat aside and watched her, trying not to laugh. "Shut up, Smurf."

"I didn't say anything," he defended himself, although he didn't do much to hide the smile that was working its way onto his face.

"You didn't have to. I can hear you thinking it." Avalon finally arranged the seat so that she could see safely over the steering wheel and started the truck. She pulled out of the driveway and drove to the Observatory. Once they arrived Billy paid for the tickets into the observatory and the two immediately headed into the planetarium section of the observatory.

Billy directed them towards a few seats at the front of the theater and the two sat down and sat back in the reclining seats and watched as the show was projected in front of them. The two watched in rapt attention as the show went on and when it was over, Billy spoke up.

"You know most of the stars that they showed in that projections don't really exist anymore?" He said. The orange ranger turned to him, eyebrows rising in interest and he continued. "Considering there are about one hundred billion galaxies that can be observable in the universe, many of them still not having been discovered, but there are about one hundred billion stars being born and dying within the year. Meaning that there are about 275 million per day that die out. So the stars that they have projected to show us today, could have very much died by the time the show had started if not there being ones that have been born in its place."

He looked over at Avalon and blushed, noticing how rapt at attention she was. "And that's not including the fact that there could be other galaxies that haven't been discovered yet."

"Like Phaedos, yeah?" Avalon agreed. "We didn't know it was a place that existed, who knows what other places are out there?" She thought for a moment. "We know there are Eltar and Edenoi because that's where Zordon and Alpha are from. But what about Rita and Zedd? There have to be other intergalactic beings we haven't run into and they have to come from other distant planets we've never seen. Those boofheads wouldn't hesitate to use everything at their disposal that we won't see coming."

"Affirmative," Billy concurred. "Even Rita's space dumpster. It had to have come from somewhere and the fact that we were able to get to the point of being able to travel into space and find it, though it has come with numerous disastrous results, it still is an amazing feat that had been accomplished." He thought for a moment. "So what does that mean for there being an even bigger power we could achieve somewhere? We never thought the powers we have now was even possible, but now here we are."

The orange ranger nodded in agreement.

"Then there's the topic of aliens and even then that's another thing in itself." He then noticed at Avalon had stopped walking and was looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. "What?" He shuffled his feet, starting to worry. "Did I say something wrong? If I offended you, I didn't mean—"

"You're doing that rambling thing again, Smurf," Avalon pointed out. "You only do that when you're nervous. Relax." She stepped forward and slipped her hand into his, smiling up at him. "You didn't offend me in any way. I just didn't know that you knew so much about stars and stuff."

"I've always been interested in many aspects and areas of science and physics," Billy said modestly. "I guess with the galaxies and stuff I was always really interested because it gave me a chance to think of there being more out there to see and I wanted to be the first one to discover it all. Kind of like people…but not to the same extent."

"Well, that's really cool," Avalon said. She tightened her grip on Billy's hand and gestured with her other one. "So what else can you show me? I think I'd get more out of listening to you than listening to a teacher. No offense to Ms. Appleby."

Billy laughed. "She's not a bad teacher; she's the only one I know that has such a vast knowledge to take on so many subjects to teach."

"Yeah…" Avalon agreed. And she had done so much to help the orange ranger as well. Rather than sit back and let the Australian girl continue to ruin her grade point average by not turning in assignments and having detentions, she actually cared and helped her get back on track. Not only that, but she understood if there were moments where the orange ranger had to leave class or had multiple responsibilities she needed to take care of and gave her extensions when needed. She hadn't taken Avalon at face value—neither her appearance nor her attitude—and had gone as far as to find out the different sides the orange ranger had. "Look, I have something to tell you."

Avalon pulled Billy to a stop and turned to look at him. "Something I wasn't really sure I _was _going to tell you because I wasn't sure how you'd react to it…but…"

"If this has to do with Jason and Chase I already know," Billy remarked.

_What? _Avalon's eyes widened in surprise. How had he known? She only briefly mentioned it to Kimberly and Aisha about Jason and even then she had only told Kim that she had dated Chase. She had kept it enough a secret she had nearly forgotten it happened at times. "How did you—?"

Tilting his head to the side, Billy gave her a smirk. "Because locker rooms have air vents that just so happen to be connected and sound carries so…" he trailed off as Avalon lowered her head. "I know you said there are a lot of things that you don't want o tell me, but the thing is…I don't judge people based on the things they've done before. Especially if it's something they're trying to get over." He thought for a moment before adding. "I haven't told Trini."

Now Avalon was even more confused. "About Jason and Chase?"

Billy chuckled and brought up his free hand, righting her head. "No, about you and me. I haven't told her. I don't want to hurt her feelings…I know she said that, we said that we didn't want anything to hold us back, but…I couldn't help but think about her and how she might feel about it." He bobbed his head back and forth. "Though something tells me that she already had a feeling we were growing close…something she said to me at the funeral…"

"Oh." Avalon nodded.

"And I hope that when you feel that you can trust me enough to tell me, you will. I don't doubt your intentions about it."

"Oh!" Now Avalon smiled, feeling a lot better. She squeezed Billy's hand and leaned into his side. "In that case, when I think that you guys won't freak out about it, then I'll tell you. In the mean time, what do you know about constellations? Other than the ones that inspired Rita and Zedd to attack us." He laughed and allowed himself to be pulled out to an outside telescope.

Taking hold of the scientific instrument, he positioned it towards the sky and the two spent the next hour and a half looking out the constellations of the zodiac signs as well as the other mythical creatures and beings that had been engraved in the sky. Noticing that the orange ranger had started to shiver a little, the blue ranger quickly pulled off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders, gently rubbing her arms. He rested his chin on her shoulder, looking up towards the sky.

"Maybe one day we'll be able to see the other galaxies and planets out here," he remarked. "To see what else there is out there…to see if there are others out there that are on our side, because Zordon said that we were only the first human rangers. To see if we can prove that things really do exist."

She noticed the way his voice hitched in his throat towards the end of his sentence but pushed it aside. It wasn't the time to bring it up, not when things were going so well.

"Maybe," Avalon agreed. She turned around and smiled up at Billy. "But right now I like being right here." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him, causing him to smile and kiss her back.

* * *

><p>"Hey Kim, do you have any competitions coming up or something? You've been working really hard lately," Aisha commented. She and Adam held their arms out to spot the pink ranger as she slowly moved back and forth on the balance beam, doing a series of spins, kicks, and flips that threatened to knock her off of the beam, but she continued to keep her balance.<p>

Adam smiled as he watched the pink ranger did a cartwheel to one end of the balance beam. She turned and held her breath, focusing on the other end in front of her then ran forward, swung her arms down, and flipped off of the end of the beam, and landed on her feet, throwing her arm back over her head once more. He clapped appreciatively as he walked to her other side as a bright smile bloomed onto Kimberly's face. He frowned a little as she lost her balance, moving to step off the practice mats, then quickly caught her balance once she was on the floor of the juice bar.

"If you don't get the gold medal for that, then there's something wrong with the judges," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "I don't think I've seen anyone that can do what you can."

"Thanks guys," Kimberly said appreciatively. She bent down and grabbed onto her towel and started to dab at the sweat on her neck. "I'm just trying to keep in shape," she explained. "Those Tengas are really tough and we're going to need all we can take to make sure that we can stand up to those guys. And Rito."

"I don't think you have that problem, Kim," Aisha said appreciatively.

Adam nodded. He watched as Kim picked up her water bottle and started to take a sip before noticing it was empty. "Hey, let's get a round of smoothies," he suggested. "It's on me this time." He went up to the counter and ordered the drinks from Ernie as well as a sundae for himself, then took it back to the table. Tommy, who had finished his own workout, joined them. "Hey Tommy, how does it feel to have a girlfriend that's bound for Olympic gold?"

"It feels great, man," Tommy replied. He laughed and put his arm around Kimberly's shoulders. She blushed and accepted his gesture of affection. "I don't know anyone else that's as deserving as she is."

"Oh come on." Kimberly waved off her friends. "I'm not _that _good." She brought a hand to her forehead and left it there for a few moments, letting out a few quiet breaths. Adam frowned as he watched her for those moments. When she finally straightened, miming wiping sweat from her forehead, "But I do hope I could get there." She shrugged. "I'm getting kind of old though, gymnastics has a really early retirement age. I'd hope I could get there, but it's kind of a far off dream."

"But that shouldn't stop you, girl," Aisha said. "You never know if you don't try."

"That's right," Adam agreed. He paused to a take a bite of his ice cream. "The worst thing you can do is not try and wish that you had. I know you can make it." He took another bite and smiled as Kimberly 'awwd' to her friends, putting her hand on her heart. Then Kimberly changed the subject to Tommy's martial arts and the next tournament he was going to participate in. He pushed his ice cream away after a few bites and then pushed it towards Kimberly to offer it to her, but she waved it off.

"I'm not that hungry," she said.

Adam raised an eyebrow. "You just finished a few hours of practice, how are you not hungry?"

She hesitated and then picked up the spoon. "Maybe just one bite. Tommy, what were you saying?"

"Oh, right that my next tournament has this guy from Los Angeles that has, apparently, never lost a match," Tommy said. He wiped his hands off on the front of his wife beater before pulling at his ponytail. "And he's _really_ good. I've seen him once. I don't think I can beat him."

"You have plenty of time to practice," Aisha reminded him. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Yeah, and Rocky and I'll be glad to help you out," Adam agreed. "To help you practice so that you can get better. You can beat him Tommy, I know you can." Tommy gave them and appreciative smile then looked over at the sound of metal scraping against metal and watched as the pink ranger pushed the little drips that were left at the bottom of the now empty sundae dish away from her.

The white ranger playfully nudged the pink ranger on the arm with his shoulder, gently jostling her. "Wow, you must've been hungrier than you though," Tommy commented with a light laugh, looking down at her empty sundae dish.

Aisha joined in on his laughter, shaking her head in awe. "And I thought Rocko had a big appetite. You really gave him a run for his money." She and Tommy exchanged glances and started to laugh again.

Frowning, Kimberly looked down at the table and her eyes widened as she took in the empty sundae dish, empty cup of smoothie and empty basket of fries. Adam, who had laughed along with Tommy and Aisha, slowly stopped laughing, frowning as he watched Kimberly's expression slowly turned to horror. His eyebrows furrowed together as Kimberly slowly brought her hand to her mouth before leaping to her feet.

"Kim?" Tommy asked.

"I don't feel very good" Kimberly managed to choke out before hurrying out of the juice bar. She started towards the bathroom, but stopped when she spotted girls going inside, then turned and fled out the front door.

The white ranger started to get up, but the black ranger beat him to it. "I'll go check on her," he offered.

"Kim, are you OK?" Adam asked, coming up to her side.

_The pink ranger flashed him the smile she had managed to perfect over the past couple of months as her mother would ask her the same question. "Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit anxious," she explained. "I was in such a rush to get out this morning I didn't get much of a chance to eat breakfast."_

_"We can go back and get you something really fast," Adam suggested, pointing over his shoulder towards the juice bar. Kimberly followed his gaze and hesitated, watching as Ernie cleaned out the inside of the blender, watching the TV, as well as speaking to Violet McKinley, who seemed to be half-listening to what he was saying. "It won't take long, and besides," he lowered his voice, sharing a secret smile with her. "We can teleport to catch up with the others if we need to."_

_Kimberly smiled back at him. "That's alright," she replied. "I can just get a bagel or a banana or something down at the launch site. Let's go!" She grabbed onto Adam's arm and tugged him forward_ _and out the Youth Center to catch up to their friends._

Adam leapt out of his chair and hurried after Kimberly. There was something really wrong with her, he knew it. He had seen her nearly fall off of the balance beam, but he had also seen how dizzy she had gotten before they had gone to Phaedos and how much she struggled when they had gotten their ninja powers.

He just hadn't said anything because he didn't think it was his place. He was just her friend, one he hadn't known very well or very long, but it didn't seem that Tommy had seen how much trouble she was having. Then he had seen how she had refused food before devouring the whole table without having seeming to notice it. The look of horror on her face…not this wasn't normal.

Adam went out the doors of the youth center and looked around for the pink ranger. It wasn't safe for her to be out at this time of night by herself. Hearing a retching sound, he turned and followed the sound towards the bushes that lined the front of the Youth Center. "Kim?" He called. As he walked closer, she spotted the hunched over form of the pink ranger kneeling on the grass, holding a finger in her mouth. He started to call her name again, but stopped when he saw her push her finger further back into his mouth, seconds before pulling it back and allowing herself to throw up.

"Kim?" Adam asked, his voice coming out in a whisper.

The pink ranger slowly turned to Adam, smoothing her hair back from her face. She lowered her gaze, not sure what to say. "I'm okay," she said weakly. "Something must've…something must've upset my stomach. But I'm fine now." She started to get to her feet.

Adam hurried over and grabbed onto her, helping her up. "Kim," he said firmly. "I saw you."

Kimberly looked up into the eyes of the black ranger then bowed her head.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So now Adam's found out about Kim, thanks to XoxMountainGirlxoX for that idea. And Rocky now has problems with his absentee father being back in the picture. Who knows what'll happen next.

Thanks to _I love power rangers7135, Adela, TaitanoRules555, Ashley, brankel1, and Rose Specktor_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	15. Chapter 15: Infiltration

**Chapter 15**

_Infiltration_

* * *

><p>"So the rangers are headed back to school today," Rita said, slouching over in her chair. "Good for them, at least it gives them something to do. I'm tired of sitting here and letting them defeat each and every one of our monsters so easily. There has to be something we can do that'll have them finally squashed like the little bugs they are."<p>

"May I remind you, that your last batch of monsters didn't really fit the bill," Scorpina said. She then gave a half smile before motioning to herself. "Besides me, anyway," she added. "Now that I finally got that sniveling human away from me, I can get back to my full potential."

"I'll keep that in mind when I want to remember that you and Goldar singlehandedly killed off one of the only monsters that were capable of destroying them," Rita screeched. Scorpina lowered her head as Goldar, who was standing in the corner of the room, turned away. "I don't know what's going in your heads that makes you think I don't know everything that goes on around here. I know what your little plan is. But Zedd and I are stronger than you ever will be; remember that unless you want to be reduced to a pile of glitter."

There was a long moment of silence until Scorpina, through gritted teeth relented. "Yes, my queen." Goldar ever so engrained to only answer to Zedd remained silent. "Let us show you that we can be better. Send us down with Rito next time."

"Sorry, boys and girls, but I don't need a chaperone," Rito declared. "I can take care of myself." Lowering his hand from his sword, as he had been sharpening his skeleton nails against them, he went over to his sister. "I don't think you understand how it works around here. Rita and Zedd are the top dogs and then I'm the next in line. Not only am I stronger, but unlike you two I won't hesitate to kill when I get the chance."

Goldar let out a yell and charged towards Rito, his sword brought high. Rito reacted quickly and brought his sword, charging back towards the gold monster with a cry of his own. Their swords clashed in mid-air and the monsters took a step back before swinging once more. Once again, their swords clashed, sending out a spectacular array of sparks. "I'll rip you apart bone by bone and crush them when I get the chance," Goldar growled.

Rita rolled her eyes then lifted her magic wand and pointed it to the monsters. A bolt of electricity shot out of the jewel on her wand and struck the two monsters. Scorpina dutifully stood aside and watched. She examined her nails and buffed them on her chest as she waited for Goldar and Rito to come apart from each other.

"Are you bumbling idiots done?" Rita asked. Receiving nods in reply, Rita drummed her fingers on the staff of her wand. "Zedd and I will come up with something. We'll have to go bigger and better to make sure that the rangers and Zordon are defeated. Ivan…he did it in a matter of seconds, we have to get to the point where we completely crush their spirits and their bodies even if I have to do it myself." She turned on her heel and left the balcony.

Her joys of being able to watch the rangers had been squashed. No matter, that's what Kat was for. She had seen the girl while looking through the people around the world with the idea of potentially creating a new evil ranger. The last one hadn't gone over too well, but Tommy had been so enthralled by Kimberly and her charm so she wasn't exactly surprised to know that her spell had been broken. Girls were easier to work with, to turn evil. They were easy to manipulate and easy to string along, human guys did it with their emotions all the time but that was without the magic, she knew.

And then putting hers and Zedd's powers together, it had been incredibly easy to get Kat under their spell. To get her to the Lunar Palace and to manipulate her into convincing her father to move the family to Angel Grove, it had all been so easy. And the rangers would never see it coming, if there was to be another evil ranger they would expect it to be a strong guy. This was the better way to get a jump on them. First they needed the secrets from the rangers and they needed to wait for Kat to give them that information.

Now she needed to talk to Zedd to see what they were going to do next. Rita lifted her skirts as she walked up the stairs that led to her room, and lowered them back to the ground, allowing it to dust the floor as she went. Her footsteps were strong and determined as she went walked with a purpose to her room. They would come up with a plan, and she'd go through her spell book to find the best spells that would be used against the rangers. Maybe so that Kat wouldn't be able to have the spell over her broken, not even with the rangers' best efforts. Spells that would cause the next monsters they could come up with to be the most difficult they could ever come across. Anything that would make it so that the rangers would realize that she and Zedd were a force to be reckoned with.

As Rita approached her room, she frowned, seeing a Tenga standing outside of the doors, as if working as a guard. Rita glanced at the Tenga and moved to go into her room but the Tenga held out a wing, blocking her way. Disgruntled, Rita took a step back away from him. "What do you think you're doing, feather-brain."

"Sorry, I'm under direct orders from Zedd not to let anyone inside," the Tenga said, continuing to hold out its wing. Rita glared and grabbed onto the wing, pulling the Tenga closer to her. The Tenga squawked in surprise and pain as it was pulled towards her. "I'm sorry, Rita! But it's orders!"

"I don't care what your orders are, it's my room and I give _you_ the orders. Not the other way around!" Rita pulled the Tenga behind her with such force that it flew to the ground with a loud cracking sound. Screeching, the Tenga started to flap its wing, causing it to screech once more. Smirking, Rita glanced down at the broken wing of the Tenga before pushing open the doors to her room.

The first thing she noticed was that the room was unbearably warm, warmer than she usually liked. The second thing she noticed was that the lights were dimmed and there were candles all over the place. Then the sound reached her ears, the moaning and grunting that caused her upper lip to curl with disgust before she looked over towards her bed, where her eyes widened with rage before narrowing at the wiggling forms underneath the sheets.

She sucked in a deep breath, preparing herself before bellowing, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

There was a startled scream and Zedd's groan of annoyance before he flipped over and looked at his wife. Rita's eyes zeroed in on the naked woman that lay in her bed, underneath her husband. She immediately recognized the woman as one of the captives that she and Zedd had grabbed while they had destroyed planets in their wake. The concubine hadn't infuriated Rita, she wasn't exactly happy that he had insisted to keep these women around him, but she found entertainment in the torture of them. What bothered her was that she wasn't allowed to have slaves of her own, men that would do her bidding for her and she could enjoy in her own ways. The other thing that bothered her was that he had the audacity to do it in their bed.

Their shared space.

She loved her husband, but she also hated his guts.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Zedd shot back to her. He turned and sat up, holding the blankets over his lower half, not bothering to give any to the woman behind him. "The Tenga was supposed to make sure no one bothered us."

"He's tending to a broken _wing!" _Rita screeched, throwing her wand at Zedd. He reached up a hand and easily deflected it away from him. "Get that wench out of my bed!" She walked over to the woman and grabbed onto her hair, wrapping her bony fingers around the tresses and yanked as hard as she could. The woman shrieked and fell out of the bed, scrambling to get to her feet as Rita forcibly led her to the door before throwing her to the ground outside the room and slamming the door shut behind her. Like a rattlesnake, she rounded on her husband, eyes flashing. "You're _dead_!"

Zedd tilted his head to the side in a lazy manner. "Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic?" He asked. "I'm only trying to make sure that I'm in top shape."

"For what? Leaving me?" Rita spat.

"I'm sorry, but you don't seem particularly interested whenever the time comes," Zedd shot back. "I'm sorry, but sometimes I feel the need to get some quick relief any way I can. You're not particularly begging for it, so why should it matter?"

"Because I love you, you moron," Rita said. "I _married _you. And you won't even let me have the same thing." She gritted her teeth. "I don't care what you do, I just care that you did it in our _bed! Our _bed, Zeddy! All the while I was defending you and how we work together amongst those idiots out there that want nothing more than to crush the rangers in the ground. And you're up here…"

Zedd climbed out of bed and walked over to his wife, placing a hand on her shoulder. "No need for that, my dear, I already have a plan," he remarked. "You see, I know something about that Great Power that the rangers don't seem to understand as of yet. We _will_ have those rangers in our grasp, starting with the weakest ones and moving to the strongest. Once they see that we have their friends, that we're slowly taking them over, they won't have a choice but to bow down to our will."

Rita slapped his hand off of her shoulder and turned away from him. "And you didn't feel that you needed to give me that sort of information before?"

"I was a little busy."

"I know. I caught the end show." Rita turned back to him. "She's not even that pretty."

"Nothing compares to your beauty," Zedd murmured. "I wouldn't have married you if that were the case. Don't worry my dear, there is nothing that could ever tear my away from you. Not even death. Now, let's go and make sure that our plan will run as smoothly as possible. We're not going to fail; this time I won't stop until every last ranger and everyone around them has taken their final breath."

Rita allowed herself to be turned and walked out of the bedroom. She looked down at the Tenga that continued to sit on the floor, nursing its wing. The woman she had thrown out had gone, probably taken back down to the dungeons.

She smirked at the Tenga as she walked by.

Now it knew not to mess with her.

* * *

><p>Aisha brushed her long braids back behind her shoulders before leaning forward and checking out her face in the mirror. She made sure her makeup was perfectly placed, plucking out a clump from her mascara, then swiped one last swatch of lip-gloss onto her lips. Backing up, she checked out her outfit, a yellow blouse and a black skirt, then picked up her backpack and left the room.<p>

"Bye Mom, bye Dad, I've got to get going," she said to her parents as she blew through the front door. "I'm going to be late after school; I'm working at the animal shelter."

"Oh that's right," Mrs. Campbell said with a warm smile. "You were talking about it all summer. It's an unpaid internship isn't it?" She gave her husband a half smile. "Should be considered community service if that's the case."

"Mom, you know I don't care if I get paid or not." Aisha walked into the kitchen and gave her father a kiss on the cheek and her mother a hug. "I'm doing what I enjoy. I really want to be a vet and this will help me get there." She paused, tapping her chin. "Though the money would've been really good to get back what I spent on back to school shopping."

"You, Kimberly, and Avalon came back with so many bags I'm surprised you didn't buy the entire store," Mr. Campbell remarked. "Girl, how many pairs of shoes do you own?" When the yellow ranger opened her mouth to reply, she was cut off by her father holding up a hand. "I don't even want to know the answer to that. You're just like your mother."

"Thank you for that compliment," Aisha teased. She looked towards the kitchen window as there was a loud, long honking. "Rocky's here," she said with a light laugh. "I gotta get going. I'll see you guys later."

"Tell that boy that if he ever comes up to the house, honking like that again his car better be on fire," Mr. Campbell called after her. Aisha laughed and bid her parents goodbye before leaving the house. She closed the door behind her and bounced down the steps, hurrying over to Rocky's truck. The yellow ranger climbed inside and delivered her father's news to the red ranger, who laughed.

"Oh come on," he said as Aisha buckled up. "Your father loves me. I'm like a son to him."

"Sure, a son that could give him a heart attack quicker than he'll get gray hair." Aisha reached out and pushed him on the shoulder as Rocky started up the car and backed out of the driveway. "So where's Adam? I thought he was first on your carpool list."

"He was," Rocky agreed. "But he said he was going to walk to school, he had a lot of think about." Silence hung in the air before he cleared his throat and continued. "It must've been really hard for him to see Sabrina just up and leave like that. She was captured by Rita and Zedd, and forcibly separated from Scorpina. I don't think there's any coming back from that."

"I know," Aisha agreed. "I just wish that he really had someone that he gelled with, you know? I mean, even back at Stone Canyon he was by himself and never really noticed it when girls were interested in him. It's senior year; we're supposed to be having the time of our lives, aren't we?"

Rocky gave her an amused glance before taking his right hand off the steering wheel to dig into the box of doughnuts that rested on the console in front of him. He took a large bite. "So what does that mean? Do you have anyone in mind that you want to go out with this school year?"

Cheeks reddening against her dark skin, Aisha lowered her gaze to her lap. She looked at Rocky out of the corner of her eye as she tried to form the words that wouldn't come. How was she supposed to put it? That she had a crush on him for a long time and was hoping he would notice her? It was a cliché that she had never wanted to go down and yet it had hit her across the face when she was only eleven years old and while she had found other boys cute and would even gush with Kimberly over the guys at Angel Grove High when the time came, but still, no one ever managed to match Rocky's charisma.

"Well, what about you?" She managed to change the subject. "Which girl have you set your sights on this time? It seems that you have a new object of affection every week."

"Not every _week_," he defended himself. "More like every month." This received a smack to the arm, causing the red ranger to swerve slightly as he tried to block off her attack. "Geez, woman, are you trying to get us killed?!"

Rolling her eyes, Aisha shook her head as she settled back into her seat. "So I heard that Kat is going to be joining us this year," she said. "We need to make sure that she feels like she fits in. Joining a new school isn't always easy."

"I don't know. We seemed to have made it just fine."

"Yeah, but she's not a power ranger…." The yellow ranger paused. "How are we supposed to keep going? We can't have our parents get dragged into this, not again. We already had to have them move. We've already been hanging out with Kat for a while since the summer, but this is different. The summer, we were all doing so much that I made sense when we suddenly have to leave for our ranger duties. How are we going to do it in school? How can we explain that we can't have her get too close or else she'll get in harm's way?"

"You can't," Rocky said plaintively. "We have to keep going the same way we did before. Keep secrets and hope that no one else gets too close." Aisha noticed that his voice had immediately turned hard and she looked over at him in surprise.

What could it be that caused that sneer on his face? This was the guy that always had a smile on his face despite the worst situations they could be put in. Even when on Phaedos, trying to find the Great Power he managed to crack a few jokes and make the rangers smile, just so that they didn't have to continuously think about the danger they were going through and what was happening to Zordon. No, this had to be something else that was bothering him. _What could it be? He hasn't said anything out of the ordinary and he's not great at keeping secrets. The only thing I've seen him this upset was when…_

"It's your dad isn't it?" She asked, turning to him. Rocky sucked in a deep breath and let it out through his nose as he nodded, causing Aisha to gasp and bring her hand up to her mouth. "He's not dead is he?"

"I wish," Rocky muttered. "No, he's….he came back…to the house, 'Sha. He visited the family. Mom and I…we talked to him a little bit. He wants to come back into our lives. He says he made a mistake." A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "Years way and he wants to come back into our lives like nothing happened?"

"What _did _happen?" Aisha pressed.

"Mom tried to talk to him a bit but I couldn't stand it. He started to beg to come back and Mom looked like she wanted to do it. I told him to get out and Mami and I got into a fight. I just…I just don't see how she could ever think that him being back around was a good idea. It's not good for any of us, for the little ones…" he fell silent once more and the two continued to ride in silence as Rocky pulled into the parking lot of the high school and slid into a free space. "I don't want him around any of us."

"He doesn't have to be if you don't want him to," the yellow ranger said gently. Rocky nodded as he turned off the car. "But we don't have to talk about it." She leaned forward and picked up the box of doughnuts that continued to rest on the dashboard. "Now, take a doughnut and let's go find our friends."

"At least it'll take my mind off things," Rocky said. He took a doughnut out of the box and inspected it, then hesitated before taking the whole box. Aisha let out a peal of laughter and the two climbed out of the truck and headed towards the school.

Across the grass, Kat slowly walked up towards the front steps of Angel Grove High, lightly holding onto the straps of her pink backpack. Her lips curled up as she watched the students amble along inside. So many people that were potential targets for Rita and Zedd, but so little time. The first thing she had to do was find the rangers and stick to them like glue. It helped that she had asked the school if there was anyone that could show her around, having already figured out that each of the rangers were on the list to do so. So at least there was a seven in fifteen chance that she was going to get at least one of them.

Taking in a quick breath, butterflies suddenly erupted into Kat's stomach. Here she was, starting another school year but at a different school this time. Her friends weren't around her, she didn't have the ocean waves gently breaking in the distance as she walked to school…it didn't even smell the same. But, she had to make the best of the situation. Kat took a step and soon she found herself traversing the walls until she made it to the administrative offices.

"Yes, I'm Katherine Hillard, I'm supposed to be meeting my guide here," she said in her calm, demure voice. The receptionist nodded and searched along her desk for the name of the student that was to be helping her. Finally, she found it and quickly looked it over.

"Ah, yes, Tommy Oliver is going to be showing you around, Miss. Hillard," the receptionist said.

"Tommy?" Kat's eyebrows rose. "I met him at the Youth Center earlier this summer. That's great." She smiled. "Now I'll at least know someone before the school year actually starts." She bit her lower lip, gently twisting herself back and forth. "Can you tell I'm nervous? Is it that obvious?"

"A little bit dear, but Angel Grove High is a great place to get your education," the receptionist said warmly. "Not only are there a lot of clubs and organizations that you can become a part of, but the social life around here is great. For example there's a football game this Friday that all of the students go to, and then there are the choir concerts, the dances, spirit week and homecoming, a lot that I'm sure you would find enjoyment in." She looked at her watch. "Though I do hope that you get a chance to find your locker. As sweet as Tommy is, he does have a tendency to be a little late, even on his best days."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll make it soon," Kat said calmly.

She turned and scanned the hallways, watching as the students of Angel Grove High milled around. She looked up and down the hallways before spotting the familiar head of brown hair coming her way, standing tall over the students that came up to his shoulders if not a bit taller. Kat waved at him and Tommy caught her eye, waving back. Kat started towards the white ranger, slowing when she spotted Kimberly holding onto his hand, talking animatedly to him about something.

She twisted her mouth to the side then lowered her gaze, before lifting it once more and smiling brightly as the white and pink rangers came to a stop in front of her. "Hi Tommy, hi Kim." She looked at the white ranger. "So I heard you're the one that's going to be showing me around the school. "I hope there's not too much to show."

"Oh don't worry," Kimberly said with a wave of her hand. "It all looks big but it's pretty easy to get around in here. You'll figure it out." She reached out her hand and grabbed onto Kat's wrist. "C'mon, your locker is this way, its right next to mine."

"Oh, that's great!" Kat said.

_"Don't blow it," _Rita's voice came into her head as Kat could feel the space witch's hold on her loosen. _"We need to make sure that we can get enough information from them out of possible."_

Kat nodded to herself and tuned back into Kimberly's explanation as to why Tommy was late. "So initially it's his own fault, as it seems like a watch doesn't even help him." She elbowed her boyfriend n the side a she rolled his eyes, arm still around Kimberly's shoulders. "But it's also my fault, I couldn't find what I wanted to wear for my back to school outfit." She gestured to her pink crop top, jean shorts, jean vest, and brown boots that adorned her lithe body. "I couldn't' find anything that fit."

"Really?" Kat looked the pink ranger up and down. "Your clothes look great, Kim. You don't have to worry about it."

Kimberly's nose wrinkled as she brushed her hair back, looking down at her clothes. "You think so? It took forever to pick this out; I hope its good enough." She turned back to Tommy and looped an arm around his waist. "Well, he thinks so, but he's been trained to say those things. Right, Handsome?" She teased with a smile.

"Right, Beautiful," Tommy replied. He then addressed Kat. "So how does Angel Grove High feel to you so far? I wouldn't think that it's too much like your old high school."

"No, not really," Kat agreed. She stepped out of the way of a couple of boys that walked towards her, looking her up and down as they went. Maneuvering herself to Tommy's other side; Kat looked up at him, giving a small smile. "But it is different. I think I'll get used to it soon enough. I just hope the teachers are okay."

"Oh, they're great," Tommy said. "Especially Ms. Appleby."

"Yeah, she teaches a lot of stuff here, sometimes she's a sub, but she's the best teacher you can have," Kimberly said. "In fact, I think she may be our homeroom teacher this year as well, we'll check once you get your schedule after morning meeting." She looked down the hall and started to walk faster when she spotted their friends. "Oh, there are the guys, c'mon."

Tommy, Kat, and Kimberly walked over to Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Billy, and Avalon as they milled around their lockers. "Hey guys," Tommy greeted them, giving Billy a high-five. "You ready to start another school year."

"Geniuses aside," Avalon remarked, nodding over at Billy who gave a modest shrug. "I think the rest of us are quaking in our boots." She brushed her hair out of her face. "Mum says that I shouldn't worry so much about my grades senior year, but I think we all know that it's supposed to be the toughest year."

"Yeah, no kidding," Rocky agreed. "Having to do our regular school work _and _worry about SAT scores and college applications."

"Not to mentions sports practices and different committees we'll be a part of," Adam added. He looked around the halls of Angel Grove. "Soon this place will be nothing but a distant memory."

"Ugh, guys, don't be so depressing," Aisha said. "You're forgetting about all of the dances, the pep rally, the sporting events, and the senior trip. You're forgetting all about that. Don't act like the world is ending on this poor girl's first day." She went over to Kat and placed her hands on her arms, gently shaking her. "Don't worry about them, girl, this year is going to be great."

Giggling, Kat tucked her hair behind her ears before nodding. "I hope so," she agreed.

"Well, I hate to burst the friendly bubble we have going on," Billy said, looking at his watch. "But we have to get going to the auditorium or we'll miss the announcement Mr. Kaplan is supposed to give." He shrugged. "I'm sure it's something we don't want to miss."

"I'm guessing it'll have to do something about goal setting," Kimberly said.

"Networking," Tommy added.

"Or practicing being better people," Avalon finished, speaking of the common topics that Mr. Kaplan subjected to those that were in detention or he caught people to listen to him. "If not a combination of the three topics, yeah?"

Billy smiled. "Be that as it may, I don't think Tommy's school record could take another tardy." He tilted his head and started the group towards the auditorium. Kat followed after them, continuing to look around at the students as they passed by them, filing into the auditorium.

Kat settled down into her seat at the end of a row and listened as the famed Mr. Kaplan stepped up to the podium and started his speech. Something about the events of the year before—school invasion, monsters, casualties, wanting to start new for the next year. She didn't pay close attention to what he was saying, no. She was too preoccupied watching the rangers next to her as they listened to his speech.

Every now and then they would looked away from Mr. Kaplan, someone would clench their hand into a fist, fake a cough, things that immediately showed their discomfort.

But what skyrocketed their discomfort to full blown distress was when their communicators went off—the melodic peal breaking the silence of the auditorium.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Next chapter starts a round of fights as well as more with Bailey and Fred and Bulk and Skull. This story goes through a lot of things teenagers go through so that's a big point of the story as well as their rangering.

I was talking with XoxMountainGirlxoX and tossed around the idea of doing a one-shot collection of things I had wanted to do/deleted scenes from the Avalon series, though when it's started it'll include the Bailey series as well. Would anyone be interested if I did that?

Otherwise, some things that are coming for this story (throughout the rest of season 3 to Zeo) are things I've talked about with _Son of Whitebeard, heartpunker123, and XoxMountainGirlxoX_. So thank you guys. I'm always willing to listen to what anyone has to suggest for the story though I'm aware they don't always work.

Thanks to _I love power rangers7135, TerraHart, brankel1, and Ashley_ for reviewing. I hope you all had great holidays.

**~Avalon**


	16. Chapter 16: The Kat Has Claws

**Chapter 16**

_The Kat Has Claws_

* * *

><p>At Angel Grove Middle School, Bailey and Fred had been sitting in their own morning announcements when Bailey's communicator went off. The purple ranger's eyes flew wide open as a low murmur went through the room, trying to find the source of the sound. She quickly pulled off her communicator and slid it into her backpack, hopefully to muffle the sound.<p>

Fred lowered himself in his seat, stretching out his legs. "What's going on?" He murmured out of the side of his mouth.

"I have no idea," Bailey replied, pretending to mess with her hair as she turned towards Fred so that she could hear him. "Normally nothing happens this early in the day. I have no idea what it could be that's going on." She sucked in a sharp breath as she could hear a muffled grinding sound and her lion zord poked its heard out of her backpack with her communicator in its mouth.

It went off once more, causing her to jump.

"Whoa what is that?" The boy to her left asked.

Bailey leaned forward and shoved the lion zord deep into her backpack before picking it up and getting to her feet. She quickly left the auditorium and ducked out into the hallway, holding her backpack to her chest as she went. She turned around as Fred came out from the auditorium as well. "I told the teachers that you got an emergency call."

"How am I going to explain that later?" She asked. "Both of Tommy's parents are fine and my Mum and Dad are gallivanting about Oz."

Fred shot her an annoyed glance. "It was the first thing that I could come up with on such short notice." He looked around before leaning towards her. "What did Zordon have to say?"

"I'll let you know." Bailey slapped her communicator back onto her wrist and lifted it to her mouth. "What's going on, Zordon? Is it Rito?"

"Precisely," Zordon replied. "There has been a disturbance that has come across our sensors. You and the rest of the rangers need to get to the Command Center as quickly as possible."

"I'm on my way." Bailey lowered her communicator and turned to Fred, grabbing onto his hand. "I hope you get used to the feeling of teleporting, mate," she said before teleporting the two to the Command Center in a flash of purple and white light. Once they arrived, the two turned and went over to the group of older teenagers as they arrived as well. "Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Dunno, we just got here," Avalon said. She nodded over at Fred, who nodded back, and joined the rangers as they turned towards Alpha and Zordon to see what was going on. "Though I'm sure we'll all have some interesting news to get back to once the fight is over."

"I apologize for the inconvenience, rangers," Alpha said to them. "But we have some news. Rito is attacking the city. There doesn't seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason as to why he is doing this other than trying to lure you out. You should be on your guard to make sure you're not being led into an ambush."

"You got it, Zordon," Tommy agreed. He turned and looked at the viewing globe where black and purple feathered monsters were flapping back and forth across the screen. "Looks like we've got the Tengas to work with, too."

"We can take them," Rocky said firmly.

"I'll stay here and help out Alpha and Zordon as much as I can," Fred suggested. "Maybe we can figure out what it is that they're doing and what they want to try and attack for this time." He shrugged. "Though from what I've seen, there haven't really been many reasons as to attacking opposed to them being trigger happy."

"Yeah, well, that's what Rita seems to enjoy doing," Kimberly pointed out. "Running us ragged until they get an actual idea to take over the city." She exchanged a smile with Aisha, who nodded in agreement. "We can handle them."

"And be back in enough time so that we don't get detention," Billy agreed.

"Detentions aren't that bad," Avalon remarked. "Plenty of time to get some homework done and half the time you can just talk to the teacher about thing that are going on in school, yeah?" The orange ranger crossed her arms as she tilted her head to the side. "Then again, I've been in detention enough times I'm on a first name basis with half of them."

"Well, someone had to be the scapegoat," Adam said, receiving a glare in response.

"Let's go," Bailey said.

Tommy nodded and the rangers got into formation. "Ninja Ranger Power, now!" They all declared and morphed into their ninjetti suits before teleporting to the battle scene. Tengas chased Angel Grove residents back and forth across the street as they went to their jobs, Rito standing aside and directing them to run about.

"That's right, watch them run like chickens with their heads cut off!" Rito laughed. A few of the Tenga that were nearby stopped and looked at him in horror. "It's just an expression chuckleheads, get going!" He turned back to the Tengas and watched as they continued to wreak havoc. "Go! Go!" He took a step back as the rangers appeared in front of him. "Not you guys! Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Yeah, stopping you," Tommy declared. "We're not going to allow you to destroy anymore of our city."

"Oh, so the rainbow squad thinks they're going to beat me?" Rito glared and pointed her sword at him. "We'll just see about that! Get them!" The Tengas turned from the citizens of Angel Grove and charged towards the rangers.

"Get ready guys," Tommy said. The rangers nodded and held out their hands, allowing their weapons to come into their grasp. "Falcon Flyer!" He held up his renovated White Tiger Wind Wheel, not with Flacon aspects to it. The rest of the rangers' new weapons had been changed to accumulate their new powers and animal spirits.

"Crane Lasher!" Kimberly called.

"Wolf Howler!" Billy's stinger appeared in her hands.

"Ape Arsenal!" Rocky's blaster appeared in his hands.

"Bear Brigade!" Aisha's large fan appeared in her hands.

"Frog Force!" Adams's mace appeared in his hands.

"Tiger Token!" Avalon's shield appeared in her hands.

"Lion Lancer!" Bailey's new and improved chain sickle appeared in her hands.

The rangers gripped their weapons and hurried towards the Tengas, immediately launching into attack. Tommy and Aisha teamed up as their weapons fed off each other. As Aisha blasted waves of wind towards the Tengas with her fan, Tommy's wind wheels shot through the air, following the stream of air and crashed into the Tengas, knocking them over. Kimberly and Billy used their whips to grab onto the wing of the Tengas and pulled them to the ground. Bailey and Adam used their cannon and mace to attack the Tengas at the closest distance to them while Avalon slid in with her shield to block them off each time they were to get hit from their blind spots. Rock finished off the Tengas with blasts of his cannon, knocking them back until they started to fly off, leaving Rito behind.

"Hey, hey, hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Rito howled after them. "You can't just leave me here!"

"Looks like you're outnumbered, Rito," Tommy declared as the rangers slowly advanced on him.

"Give up," Bailey added. "You're ours now."

Instead of appearing worried, Rito placed his hands on his hips. "Oh really?" He asked. "I think my friend would beg to differ." He motioned upwards just as there was a loud crashing sound and the rangers turned to see a fifty—maybe even more—foot cat monster hurrying towards the city on all fours, cries of triumph coming from its mouth as it went. "Hope you don't get struck by a furball!" With a loud laugh, Rito disappeared in a rush of flames and skulls.

"Whoa, looks like we really _were _being brought into an ambush," Rocky declared.

"It's not anything that we can't get rid of," Billy reminded his friends.

"Looks like we're going to be taking it to the vet," Adam agreed. "Let's do this!"

"It's morphin' time! White Ranger Power!"

"Purple Ranger Power!"

"Orange Ranger Power!"

"Black Ranger Power!"

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

"We need ninja zord power, now!" The rangers all cried.

"Orange Tiger, ninja zord, power up!"

"Purple Lion, ninja zord, power up!"

"Red Ape, ninja zord, power up!"

"Black Frog, ninja zord, power up!"

"Pink Crane, ninja zord, power up!"

"Blue Wolf, ninja zord, power up!"

"Yellow Bear, ninja zord, power up!"

"White Ninja, Falconzord, power up!"

The rangers leapt into the cockpits of their zords and quickly got to work against the cat monster that continued towards them. The lion, tiger, and wolf zords all leapt up and did a quick flip, striking the cat monster with their tails. Aisha quickly followed up with the bear zord stomping the ground, causing the earth to shake and the cat monster to lose its balance. The frog zord came up next breathing fire out of its front, giving Kimberly enough time to bring the crane zord around to strike it with lasers from the rocket bay. Then Rocky came up next with the ape zord, crashing into the cat's chest. It picked the monster up, spun it around a few times and threw it aside before pounding itself against its chest.

"Nice try!" The cat monster purred as she twisted through the air and landed on her feet. "You're going to have to try harder than that!" She shrieked as the falcon zord came around and blasted her in the back with its own lasers. "Why not try this on for size?!" The cat monster flipped backward and charged towards the Frog Zord and leapt over it before raking her claws down the front of the wolf zord, knocking it backwards.

The cat monster continued to flash back and forth against the zords, using its agility and balance to keep itself upright as the rangers continued to try and attack her, but found her to be too powerful. Tommy swept the falcon zord down towards the cat monster but cried out as the wing of the zord was suddenly caught by an upward swipe of the cat's claws.

"Tommy! Are you okay?!" Kimberly called in alarm.

"Yeah, but thaws close," Tommy said as he swung the falconzord out of the way at the last minute. "This isn't working guys; we need to bring it all together! Battle mode, now!" The rangers' zords all came together to create the Ninja Megazord in its battle mode. The rangers directed the ninja Megazord high up into the air, using the wings of the Falconzord to lift them up.

"Falcon Megazord, power punch!"

The FalconMegazord shot through the air aiming back down towards the cat monster. But the cat monster rolled out of the way in enough time to have the attack miss her, though she didn't get cleared out of the way, enough so that her right arm got struck by a wing and an arm of the FalconMegazord. Hissing, the cat monster was teleported out of the area.

The rangers then teleported back to the Command Center. "Power down!" Tommy declared and the rangers all returned to their street clothes. Swallowing thickly, the purple ranger took a step forward.

"What was that?" She asked. "Why did the cat monster not continue to attack?"

"From what we saw on the viewing globe, it was probably just a means to test out the monster," Fred spoke up. He took off his hat and scratched the back of his head. "I mean, not only did it seem like she was wasting you guys, no offense, but that monster, if it survived a blast like that, it seems she may be even stronger than you already think."

"Fred has a point," Billy agreed. "We never know that Rita and Zedd have up their sleeves and we're only just getting used to our new zords and everything." He started to pace back and forth. "But if that is true, why did they wait until _now _to bring her about."

"And are they planning something else we're not aware of?" Adam pointed out.

Bailey snorted, gently shaking her head. "By now, guys, I think we know they're always planning something else, yeah? It's just a matter of what it is." She looked at her watch. "But it's not anything that we can worry about when we don't even know what it is that's going on. Knowing those two, something is going to be spilled before we even get a chance to figure it out themselves. But we're going to have to worry about it later, or else we're going to run ourselves ragged."

"She has a point," Aisha agreed. "Worrying about something you can't change is never good."

"She's just worried about her perfect GPA plummeting by the second she's not there," Avalon teased and then sobered. "Though I don't blame her, I need to keep up my grades, too. We'll have to come up with some excuse for us leaving."

"Well." Rocky put his arm around Avalon's shoulders. "You're not our scapegoat for nothing."

Avalon rolled her eyes as the other rangers laughed, missing the frown that graced Billy's face. "Whatever, let's get going." She turned to Bailey and Fred. "We'll see you guys later."

"Hoo roo." Bailey waved before she teleported herself and Fred back to the middle school. They landed in the outdoor lunch area and hurried across the grass before ducking back inside the school and heading towards their lockers. "That cat monster…I don't know but I think there's something we should really be paying attention to there. Rita and Zedd like to show off what they're doing, so why was it that this monster came down and not Scorpina? It doesn't make sense."

"Do you _really _think that there's something else going on?" Fred asked, eyebrows rising. "I mean, yes, I understand that they may have wanted to try and surprise us. But I think that there's something really simple we're just overlooking."

Bailey frowned and nodded in agreement as she arrived at her locker. She pulled it open and placed her backpack inside, being careful to take the lion zord out and place it on the top shelf. She then grabbed her books and put them into the bag, hooking it up over her shoulder. There were too many things that she needed to think about, the zords, the new powers, the new monsters, and not only that, but everything in her own personal life. She knew something was going on with her sister that she wasn't talking about, she was dealing with her own feelings for Fred that continued to freak her out day by day, and now he was working in the Command Center with the other rangers.

On one hand it really helped so that she didn't have to worry about trying to keep things from him and he had really helped when everything with Ivan Ooze went down. But his father had gotten hurt and he constantly put himself into harm's way without having any way to defend himself, all when she didn't have her own powers to defend him with.

What if something else happened?

"What?" Fred asked, peering at her.

"Nothing." Bailey closed her locker door. "I was just wondering when everything was going to get easier." Fred let out a mixture of a scoff and a sigh and put his arm around her shoulders as the two started to walk down the hall.

"School is the easiest part," he reminded her. "Especially with coming up with some sort of excuse that'll keep people from constantly questioning why you disappeared."

"I think you can handle that one," Bailey remarked. "You got my secrets, I'll deal with the crime fighting."

"Deal."

* * *

><p>"Hey Bulkie, where do you think we're going to end up after this?" Skull asked, inspecting the sandwich that sat in from to f him. Bulk, who had just taken a large bite of food, screwed up his face in thought before replying.<p>

"What do you mean, Skull?" He asked. "After this we're going to start patrolling Angel Grove as the best cops of the city." Skull laughed loudly when Bulk, who had continued to chew while he talked, sucked in a large piece of food and coughed it back up, shooting it across the room. Bulk joined in on the laughter when it struck a fellow cadet in the back of the head. His laughter faded as he looked at Skull. "You know, it'd been a long time since we laughed like that. They don't really like us goofing off here, not like when we were back in high school."

"Well, they never liked us goofing off back then either," Skull pointed out. "Remember? We got kicked out."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Bulk said. He scowled a little as he thought about it. His mother had been very disappointed when he had to go back to the house and told her he had been kicked out of school. His father basically hadn't said anything other than he was going to get a job so that he wouldn't be wasting time.

Becoming a police officer had been the last thing Bulk had thought he would have ever found himself doing. Especially with Skull by his side. He remembered how much he hadn't liked him when he first met, especially as he found Skull to be very annoying. But something had clicked between the two boys and they had become inseparable. Frankly, he wouldn't think of going into the police academy without Skull by his side. It was good to know there was someone that would be with him as they struggled to get through the classes and tests.

But things had been going well; even Lt. Stone had started to see they weren't the same goofy bullies they had been in high school. It was all a matter of envy, he could admit now. Ever since he was young he had always been one of the bigger ones in the class and his classmates were scared of him. With only Skull as his friend, Bulk constantly wondered what it was that he had done that continued to have people afraid of him and he could admit he was kind of lonely. So he lashed out at everyone around him and Skull followed suit, their terrorization of their classmates bringing them together though what Bulk really wanted was a sort of group of friends that the rangers had.

Instead, they had a group of misfits that banded together in being bullies to those that went to their school. Sharky had been the first one to join their group and she was just as nasty as the guys were, and then there was Joel, who had left the school shortly after the first monster attack on Angel Grove. After that it had been Bulk, Skull, and Sharky until she had been sent away to live with her relatives, until recently, anyway.

"So what do you think of what happened with Sharky?" He asked Skull. "If we hadn't gotten into this, we might've ended up the same way," he pointed out. Skull nodded and rested his chin in his hand. Bulk tilted his head to the side, recognizing the curious expression on his face. "What?"

"I just wonder what would've happened if we really _did _end up the same way," Skull pointed out. "We would've been in jail, Bulkie. Like actual jail. My Mom would have a heart attack. She probably wouldn't be able to stop crying." He gently shook his head. "I guess if we didn't get expelled from school then we wouldn't have turned our lives around." He shook his head. "As for Sharky, it really sucks to see how badly things have gone for her." He shrugged. "But I guess we can turn things around if Lt. Stone decided to give her a break."

"Yeah," Bulk agreed. _Maybe if she gets put on probation we can be the ones to make sure that things get better for her. _He voiced his thoughts to Skull, who immediately perked up.

"That's a great idea! It'd be a good way to make sure that she doesn't completely relapse," Skull agreed. He fell silent for a moment. "I wonder what it was that caused her to start acting out so much, that caused her to get sent away. I doubt the monster attacks had anything to do with it and even we weren't that bad."

Bulk shrugged. "Maybe her parents thought we were bad influences on her," he pointed out. "It's not really that far of a stretch." He scratched the back of his head and shook his head. "I don't want to be seen that way, anymore. Even when we stopped being bullies and just went after the power rangers to see if we could figure out their identities—"

"—which I'm surprised we hadn't figured out before," Skull broke in.

Skull laughed. "Yeah. Even when we were trying to figure out the identities of the rangers, we were still seen as annoying creeps that didn't really have much going on in school. This is better than helping out the rangers those few times and helping save the world from Ivan Ooze." He looked away for a moment. "I don't really care about the fame and recognition from it; it was just good to be able to help the best we could. And if we can do that for Sharky, then we_'_ve succeeded a little."

Bulk nodded as he tried to hide his smile. He hadn't thought about it much when he was younger, considering he was too busy chasing after Kimberly and Trini, but he knew that their friend had been jealous of the attention that Skull had shown the pink ranger. Now, Bulk didn't care much for who liked who and who was dating who, but it was funny to see how much attention Sharky had thrown Skull's way and he hadn't noticed.

_It seems to be going the other way now, _Bulk thought, hiding his smile with another bite of his lunch. _I just hope we can help her. _So far they had managed to help Avalon when she had been shot by the Vipers, and that was a really eye opening call they had been on, seeing their friend lying on the ground like that had shown Bulk and Skull it was something they really wanted to do. Then they had helped Bailey save the Earth from Ivan Ooze and kept the parents from killing themselves, further proving this was what they were supposed to be doing in life.

Now they had the chance to help someone else.

Maybe they weren't such losers after all.

* * *

><p>Kimberly had been sitting quietly in her study hall, the only class she had without another ranger with her, when she heard the door to the room open. Looking away from her novel, she spotted Adam walk into the room and say something to the teacher before motioning for Kim to follow him. The pink ranger hesitated for a minute before gathering her thing and leaving the room with him.<p>

The two walked along the hallway for a few moments before Adam stopped at the large staircase and sat down on it. Kimberly sat down next to him, carefully putting her backpack on the ground. She could hear the sound of her makeup caddy moving aside along with the sound of pills shifting around. Her mind immediately flashed back to that morning when she had been talking to her mom.

"Kim, honey, is that all you're going to eat for breakfast?" Mrs. Hart asked her daughter as she sat down at the kitchen table with a half a grapefruit in front of her.

The pink ranger nodded and picked up the jar of sugar to lightly sprinkle over the pink fruit. "I have a whole new diet I'm working on to make sure I'm in top shape for gymnastics," she explained. "Today I'm doing a bunch of weights, I have protein powder and stuff that I'm going to be drinking all day to make sure I gain all the muscles and stuff I need." She brushed her hair from her face and avoided her mother's eyes as she started to slide her spoon into her fruit.

That's what she was focusing on now, gaining muscle. The dizziness she had started to feel while fighting as a ranger, even just walking around the school had started to scare her. It was just the fact these wasn't eating a lot. That was fine, she wasn't getting the nutrients. _All you have to do is replace that with protein powder and you'll be okay, _Kim thought. _This is what you need to be a better gymnast and a stronger ranger. This is what you need to do to make sure you're as strong as everyone else around you. _

"What do you have for your lunch?" Ms. Hart pressed.

"I have a lot, mommy, it's just when it comes to gymnastics that's a problem," Kimberly said calmly. "I mean, I have to think about putting too much food in my stomach when I'm doing flips and tricks and stuff." She rolled her eyes. "Last thing I need is to puke all over the floor when I'm in mid-air."

Ms. Hart laughed loudly, warming her hands with her coffee mug. She laughed harder when Kimberly shot her a disapproving look. "Sorry, the image I had of it was just so funny." She cleared her throat and hunkered back down to her food. "How's school going? I know it only just started, but its' your senior year, you already have so much that's going on." Kimberly noticed an odd expression flash across her mother's face, but didn't press it.

"There's so much I have to do, Mommy, but I'm so excited," Kimberly gushed. "There're the dances and the clubs, and the sports, and the events. And the parties and the senior trip…" she took another few bites of the grapefruit and pushed it away from her, hiding it underneath her napkin. "I just want to be able to look back and say I had the best year of school ever. Who knows what'll happen once this year ends. Will I keep going with gymnastics? Will I go to college? What'll happen with me and Tommy? Will we split up? I don't know." She shrugged. "It's all so…coming up so quickly. Everything! I'm surprised I can handle it all."

"Sweetie, if there's anyone I know that can handle doing this like this, balancing all of their work and their social life, it's you," Ms. Hart pointed out. She then sighed. "Speaking of which, you know how I've been seeing someone and how I've been trying to get you to meet him but something comes up?"

Kimberly nodded. _Yeah, something like Rita and Zedd throwing out some more monsters for us to fight. _"Yeah, I know."

"Well, I _really _want you to meet him, honey. Things are getting pretty serious between us and I think that it's the best time for you two to meet each other." Ms. Hart paused and studied her daughter for her reaction. Kimberly blankly looked back at her mother for a long moment. "Honey, is that okay? Do you like the idea?"

Finally, the pink ranger snapped to attention and smiled. "Yeah, Mom, I think this is a great idea. And you're right; it's the best time for us to meet. He can…come over for dinner or something." She looked at her watch. "I have to go or else I'll be running behind for my gymnastics practice." She got up from her seat and went over to her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you later, Mommy." She hurried to her room, stopping by the bathroom first. Peeking her head out the doorway, Kimberly reached inside the medicine cabinet and picked up the diet pills she had found hidden behind the many rows of makeup, deodorant, and facial cleansers.

She stuffed them into her bag and hurried back downstairs and out the front door before her mother could come up the stairs and catch her. She didn't think she'd need to use it, only if her gaining muscles didn't come as quickly as she wanted to. It wasn't a big deal.

But now, sitting with Adam, knowing what he was about to talk to her about, she wanted nothing but to flush them down the toilet. "Adam," she said. "Before you start, I just want to say that what I'm doing isn't really a big deal."

"Then why are you avoiding me?" Adam pointed out. He leaned back against the stairs and looked out in front of him for a moment before turning his gaze to Kim. "I don't want to argue about what's going on, I just want to make sure you're okay. What you're doing…it could really hurt yourself."

"But I'm not, Adam," Kimberly insisted. "I'm just trying to get a good base set of muscles. I'm just trying to get stronger. Not only am I the weakest ranger, but I'm the one that only gets into the most amount of trouble when we're fighting. I mean, when we were on Phaedos, I always had to have Tommy come and help me. When we were just fighting Rito this morning…"

"Kim, we're all getting used to our new powers," Adam pointed out. "I mean, we all need help from each other when we get the chance." He finally looked the pink ranger in the eye. "But you're not the weakest one of us," he maintained. "None of us are essentially weak; we're all strong in different areas of fighting."

"Then what am I good at?" Kimberly demanded. "Tommy is the best sword smith, Av is the best sharp shooter, Rocky is the fastest, you has the best reflexes, Billy is the strongest, Aisha has the best endurance, Bailey is the most systematic!" She threw her hands into the air. "Not only that, but with our new powers, everyone else is better than me at everything! So what am I? Where do I fall within this whole thing?"

Kimberly let out a heavy sigh and leaned forward, resting her face in her hands. She was silent for a long time then turned towards Adam with a half smile on her face. "I'm really starting to sound like a whiny little brat aren't I?"

Adam sat up straight and put his arm around the pink ranger's shoulders, giving her a warm hug. Kimberly smiled at the black ranger and leaned into his hug before pushing her hair back from her face. "Not a _whiny _brat," he said and Kimberly gently elbowed him in the side. "Kim, you're not a brat. You just have some insecurities. We all do. I mean, coming in after Zack, Trini, and Jason…Rocky, Aisha and I have to fill some pretty big shoes and sometimes I don't think we're able to do that. I always wonder what it's going to take for you guys to want to…I don't know. Kick us out and replace us or something."

The pink ranger's eyes widened. "Are you kidding? We could never replace you guys. The powers chose you for a reason. Jason, Zack, and Trini all saw you guy as good replacements for them and you are. We couldn't get rid of you now even if we wanted to." She added the last part teasingly, before rubbing Adam's knee. "Ad, you guys are great rangers and great friends. You shouldn't worry about something like that. We're a team and we're always going to be a team."

Adam slowly smiled as he listened to what Kimberly had to say. He then sat up straighter than he had before. "Thanks, Kim."

"You're welcome."

Kimberly leaned over and gave Adam a huge hug. _I did it, _she thought. She managed to get Adam off the conversation about her eating. If she could continue to keep him and the others away from the subject, she'd be fine. _Everything's going to be okay._

What the two rangers didn't know was that Kat had been listening to the conversation from around the corner, watching the pink and black rangers intently. And as they hugged she lifted a camera and took a picture of them, smirking to herself as her eyes flashed red.

She rubbed her arm before turning and walking away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Huh, I need to write more scenes with Avalon, Bulk, and Skull. Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter, I'll update again soon.

Thanks to _TaitanoRules555, I love power rangers7135, heartpunker123, brankel1, Adela, Ashley, TerraHart and Rose Specktor_ for reviewing. Also, thanks to _SailorSedna052_ for favoriting and alerting me and my stories. I'm glad you're enjoying them.

**~Avalon**


	17. Chapter 17: Prison Break

**Chapter 17**

_Prison Break_

* * *

><p>"I want to go see her."<p>

Captain Mitchell blinked down at his daughter as he closed the front door to the house behind him. Dana stood by the front door dressed in a white sweater and loose fitting jeans. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a lose ponytail, showing off the stern expression on her face that she directed towards her father. He let out a heavy sigh, taking off his hat and scratching his forehead before carefully placing it on the banister.

"You want to go see whom?" He asked. Stepping around her, he walked back towards the kitchen, dropping his gym bag to the floor as he went. He could hear Dana's footsteps follow after him and tried not to let his irritation show. She hadn't spoken more than a few words to him over the past couple of weeks and now she was suddenly speaking to him once more. "And don't speak to me that way, you may be angry with me, but I'm still your father."

"Yes, sir." Dana quickly, albeit sarcastically, corrected herself. "I want to go see Ellie. The woman that you cheated on Mom with. I want to know what her part of the story is. Then…I want to meet Avalon and Bailey."

That stopped Captain Mitchell in his tracks. He turned back to face his daughter and stared at her. As he looked at her it was as if he was suddenly seeing her for the first time. She wasn't that little girl that he had taken care of by himself after his wife passed; she wasn't the little girl that had waited around for her father to come home so she could tell him everything about his day, who greeted him at the door with a bright smile and lots of hugs and kisses. No, she had grown up and was now a teenage girl that was trying to make figure out the workings of the world, who had that world shattered as she figured out the trust behind everything.

She learned that life didn't always go the way she wanted or thought it would and that had been a nasty shock for her. In a way he was proud that she was turning around and working through what life had handed her. She was very headstrong, he'd give her that.

"What made you decide on that, Dana?" He sighed. This was just like her, once he thought he had her figured out, she tripped him up. Maybe he never really knew her in the first place. _Focus. _

Dana stalked towards him, her movements unhurried. "I want to know everything," she said calmly. Her voice revealed just how serious she was about the situation. That caught him even more off guard. "I want to know what it was that she thought about the whole ordeal. I want to know about Avalon and Bailey. I want to know what it is about them that made you continue to follow them around. I want to know everything, Dad, and the only way that can happen is if I meet her."

Speechless, Captain Mitchell gently shook his head. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, working to hear everything Dana had said to him. And she was right. He couldn't keep her in the dark anymore. Here she was practically pleading for his help to understand things and he was focused on keeping it quiet as long as he possibly could.

"Okay." The stunned expression on his face almost made him laugh. "We'll go see her tomorrow. I'll take the day off, I'll call her right now to make sure that she'll be available to meet with us." He turned to go then stopped. Dana was still looking at him. "Did I grow a second head?"

"I didn't think…you'd agree to do it," Dana admitted. "I thought you'd want to avoid it. Change the subject. Yell at me."

"Why would I yell at you?"

Now Dana looked stumped. "I don't know. I just never thought it would be this easy." She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her nose, looking up at her father. "Shouldn't you put up a better fight or something?"

"Honey, for most of my life I've fought fires," he explained. "Now I'm fighting assistants that try to hold me back while I continue with my experiments, I don't think I need to fight you, too." He walked over to his daughter and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm just glad you're not mad at me anymore."

Dana pulled away from her father and her blue eyes turned steely once more. "I'm still mad at you, Dad. I'm not going to forget what you did." With that, she turned on her heel and raced up the stairs to her bedroom where he slammed the door behind her.

Captain Mitchell thought to remind her not to slam the door, but decided otherwise, it wouldn't help their situation if he did. Instead, he called Ellie—who was surprised that he had done so—and explained everything that was going on and how Dana wanted to meet her the next day. He expected her to hang up on him, to say that she never wanted to see him again, to not bother her, but she had—after a bit of hesitation—agreed to meet them.

And it was all the Mitchells could think about for the rest of that night, holding a tense silence over the house until the next morning when, true to his word, Captain Mitchell took the morning off, sending his assistant, Angela Fairweather, to his meetings, then the two went to the local diner for breakfast. Once seated, Dana preoccupied herself with her straw, pushing it back and forth across the table as Captain Mitchell watched her.

"How are you classes going?" He asked her.

"Fine," Dana muttered.

"You're graduating this year, are you still on track to go to university to go into medial school?" At Dana's silent nod, Captain Mitchell continued. "It's ironic, really," he remarked. "Ellie is a nurse." He hid his smile as Dana looked up at him in surprise. "It's true. She works as a nurse in pediatrics, but sometimes takes up extra shifts at the hospital."

"I didn't know that," she murmured.

"You didn't ask."

Dana shrugged and went back to passing her straw back and forth between her hands before bringing her phone out of her pocket to look over the messages her friends were sending her. Captain Mitchell leaned back in his seat, stretching his legs out from underneath the table. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking around the diner. The small TV that sat on the counter broadcasted the world news and Captain Mitchell was slightly surprised to see there was no news of the power rangers. Then again, he didn't expect them to be used every day.

Even evil space villains needed some time off. What worried him the most was of the appearance of Diabolico in Angel Grove. He hadn't thought there was much truth in the claims he had first heard, but then more and more reports came in, some government sanctioned. There was no explanation as to how a woman who was still relatively young with no health problems have dropped dead like that? Once he got the information that Diabolico had been present, it caused him to have to work harder at his job. If he and the demons were sealed away, how had he have gotten out of their entombment and killed that woman?

And the most important question of them all was; why was Lacey Cranston targeted? What was it about her that had caused her to be a casualty in the war against evil beings from space? Those questions were thrown around the office many times throughout the day as his group of colleagues worked as hard as they could to continue to try and create the new powers that would be used if something ever happened in Mariner Bay.

Captain Mitchell pushed the thoughts to the back of his head as he heard the bell above the door of the diner ding and turned in his seat to see Ellie slide inside the diner. He waved a hand towards her and she nodded back, smoothing down the sides of her coat before walking over to the table, giving a small smile. In fact, she appeared to be walking into a war zone, her footsteps going even slower the closer she got to the table.

Standing up, Captain Mitchell offered her the seat that was next to. "This is my daughter, Dana," he introduced the two of them. "Dana, this is Ellie."

"Hi, Dana," Ellie said. She placed her purse on the ground next to her seat before holding her hand out towards the teenage girl. Dana hesitated then stuck out her hand and shook Ellie's. "It's nice to meet you. Though…I guess things are a bit weird, right now, yeah?"

"I guess," Dana agreed. She rested her chin in her hand, quickly glancing over the menu before raising her eyes to Ellie. "Dad told me you're a nurse."

"I am," Ellie agreed. She looked over her own menu, quickly deciding what she wanted, and set it aside. "I am a pediatric nurse and have been for a while now. Otherwise I take some shifts at the hospital for some extra money every now and then. Your father told me that you were interested in becoming a doctor as well. Your grades in science must be very good if you've already got some scholarship offers." She cleared her throat, shifting in her seat. "If you ever need a letter of recommendation, I could write you one. Or one of my colleagues. I'm sure they'd like to help you out."

Despite being angry at her father and the awkwardness of being at a table with the woman her father had gotten pregnant twice, the teenager's eyes lit up. "That'd be nice," she said, trying to downplay her excitement. "I…I didn't know Dad told you so much about me."

"I reckon he hasn't told _you_ a lot about _me_." Ellie's Australian accent rang true as she glanced over at Captain Mitchell with a pointed look. She then released a long, pent up sigh. "I can't imagine what I would do if I were in his shoes and he in mine. I have made my own mistakes, especially in the means of not allowing certain things to be said…I feel nothing but immense guilt for not telling Cadence and Abigail everything they should've known before." She placed her hand on her chest. "It wasn't until early last year that we finally explained everything to them and they were rightfully angry, yeah?"

"Yeah?" Dana repeated.

"It took me years to strike up the nerve to tell them everything that had gone on," Captain Mitchell continued. "Years. Years of me wondering if I had made the right decision, years of knowing that I willingly gave up on them and on you…and…have been dreading it and agonizing over it for just as long." He shook his head. "So I understand that you wanted to punish me as much as you could, when you found out because I betrayed you in a sense. But I'd hope that you'd understand that there are things that, as adults, we don't feel our kids are ready to hear."

"But you cheated on Mom, Dad," Dana cried in exasperation. Her voice echoed throughout the diner and she lowered her voice once glances came her way. "Did you not love her anymore? Is that it?" She then turned to Ellie with a narrowed gaze. "Did you know about my dad's status? Could you not resist the uniform? You knew they were married right and yet you still went after him and did your best to rip him away from his family, right?"

"Dana!" Captain Mitchell snapped, causing the girl to lean back in her seat, crossing her arms and turning away. He let out a sigh, an irritated sigh that had been kept inside for too long. He leaned forward and ran his hands over a face. "I understand you're angry, but please—"

"No, no that's okay." Ellie managed to brave a smile. "I reckon it's something I deserve. Though I have to tell you, Dana, that I wasn't aware that your mother was your mother, his wife, or that he was married until after I met her. I was stationed as her nurse when she had been bedridden the first time. She wasn't' doing well, Dana, we could all se e that she didn't have much time left and while she, miraculously, fought to live a lot longer than we anticipated, her cancer was terminal. She knew she wasn't going to be around much longer and she had said that she hadn't wanted your father to sit around and mope when she was gone."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I was there when she said it to him, yeah? I was doing my checkup of her and she said it. I don't know if she saw the initial attraction between me and your father, but she said she didn't want him to live the rest of his life pining after someone that will obviously not make it. She wouldn't hate him if he moved on before what happened happened."

Dana shook he head.

"I'm sorry, but that was her decision to make and she made it," Ellie continued. She sat back in her seat, brushing her hair out of her face. "She had always thought about her family before herself. She never thought about how scared she was or how things were going. She continued to look at the future, not at what the end was. She always talked about you. _Always. _She loved you very much. So please don't think that there's anyone that can take that away from you."

Dana nodded.

Captain Mitchell signaled the waitress to come over and take their order. And with that, the conversation had lulled once more, but at least things were clearer and had finally been explained. The three ate in relative silence for the most part and then Dana brought up the second thing she had wanted to know.

"Am I going to meet Avalon and Bailey?" She asked. "I want to be able to talk to them a little."

"Well…I have no problem with that, Dana," Ellie admitted. "But the thing is, at the moment, they're in the process of being adopted. And while they now know and understand everything that's happened, I reckon it'll take some time before they'd want to meet up with you."

"Not to say that it won't happen," Captain Mitchell continued. "I'm just not sure right now is the time to bring it up. But they do know who you are and how you're related to them. So it's not like you'd be a complete stranger if things ever worked out that way."

"They're being adopted?" Dana's eyebrows rose in confusion. "You gave them up for adoption?"

"Yes." Ellie and Captain Mitchell nodded. "We…we felt that the choices we had made in their lives…they wouldn't be able to get through and coming back here, being in our custody again wasn't going to help. They have a great life in Angel Grove with friends they really care about."

"The others in the picture?"

"Yes. We made a blue in the way we handled their growing up and the choices we made for them and the way they're thriving now…I wouldn't want to take that from them. I'd want them to make their own decisions about it." Ellie pushed her plate away from her and regarded Captain Mitchell with a serious look and he nodded back at her, giving a half smile. "We're still in contact with them; they come to visit every now and then. Thing are getting better and while we're still working things out, they're getting better."

Dana rested her cheek in her hand and nodded as she poked at the fruit salad and egg omelet that was piled onto her plate. She let out a long breath and sat up straight, looking back and forth between her father and Ellie. "I don't agree with what you've done," She admitted. "And…I'm still very…pissed about the whole thing." She held up her hand towards her father as he gave a start, eyes narrowing. Cursing was something he never allowed in his presence, but he knew she deserved to have the chance to vent her feelings. "I can see how you think that you were helping all of us when you made your decisions so I guess I can't fault you for that."

Captain Mitchell nodded and reached out, placing his hand on top of his daughter's. "I know it's going to take a while for you to fully understand this, but we truly do think that we did what was best for everyone. Even if there were a lot of mistakes made."

"I understand."

The three finished eating and paid the bill before leaving the diner. Ellie bid the two of them goodbye, awkwardly walking with them out of the diner. "I have to get going or else I'll miss my shift." She gave a small smile towards Captain Mitchell before turning to Dana. "I'd still be glad to write a letter of recommendation if you'd like. Just let me know."

"Thank you."

"Bye."

Ellie waved once more and turned on her heel and went to her car. Captain Mitchell waved until she was out of the parking lot before walking with Dana back to their car. He turned to her as the two started back towards their car. "Do you understand now?"

"Yeah…" Dana sighed. She lifted her head. "I guess….I don't know how hard it was…to see her like that." She looked up at her father. "Mom, I mean." She turned away, brushing a tear from her cheek. "It must've been really bad if she was starting to tell you to move on. I…I don't want to think of her that way. I want to think of her as my Mom."

"I understand that sweetie, but you also have to know that she's not gone," Captain Mitchell explained to her. "Not entirely. I see a lot of your mother in you, Dana. Especially with the way you're not afraid to speak up about things that matter to you."

Dana smiled and hid her face with her hair. Captain Mitchell leaned over and kissed the side of her head, causing Dana to react in surprise. He didn't usually show this much emotion about anything. He always had to have a stern, disciplinary image whenever he was at work and that seeped over into their home life every now and then. It was good to see there were still moments within him that she could see her father, rather than the man she had to answer to.

"In that case," Dana started. "I really don't feel like going to school today, even if it's a little bit late. Besides, I have some more questions I want to ask you."

Captain Mitchell nodded. "I understand. You know I'm just trying to do the right thing here."

"I know, Dad. I know."

* * *

><p>Avalon crossed her legs at the knee, tugging at her shoelaces as she looked around the meeting room. At all of the tables around her there were inmates and family members conversing quietly. As Avalon twisted in her seat to look around the room, she could see mother with their sons, tears falling down their cheeks, fathers with their daughters, inmates and significant others, everyone doing his best to keep their composure as they conversed in a place where people were more than likely not to get taken out of within the next few years.<p>

The outside of the large room was covered by guards that stared in at the inmates as if their lives depended on it. On one side of the room was a small, rickety shelf filled with board games, on the other side of the room was a vending machine that hardly worked, having to be kicked a few times on the side before something came out. She learned that the hard way as she had listened to a couple of kids repeatedly kick the side of the vending machine for fun until they found that free candy would pop out. Then they had continued until one of the guards came up behind them and threatened them with a trip to jail if they didn't stop defacing federal property and they hurried back over to their mother, who was busy having a whispered conversation with whom the orange ranger thought was her husband.

If the way she was rubbing his thigh gave any indication.

"I'd do that for you if I wasn't spatially challenged at the moment." Turning around Avalon watched as Chase sat down in the seat across from her, hands shackled together as well as his feet. "Then again, I'd also settle for a hug."

"And probably get smacked all the same, yeah?" Avalon remarked. She then got a good look at him, taking in a figure that she had thought would turn gaunt. However considering his bicep muscles bulged out more than she remembered and the dark look to his eyes hadn't faded, there was a sense of calm around him. Her eyes widened when she turned her gaze to where his shaggy hair used to sit, showing off the large scar in his eyebrow. "You shaved your head?"

"No." Chase shook his head before slouching down in his seat. "I had it _forcibly _shaved. Should've known it wouldn't take much for the High Flyers to get wind that I was coming in here." The chains around his hands clinked together as he brought his hands up and rubbed them over his short hair. "I'm surprised it didn't happen the moment I got here."

"Did you get beat up, too?"

Chase's eyebrow twitched upwards as a smirk graced his handsome features. "They wouldn't be dumb enough to try." He shifted in his seat, stretching out his legs underneath the table. "So what brings you to this hell hole for a visit? Last I checked, I haven't gotten any response to the letters I've been sending you. Then again, you have a great life now, why would you want to screw that up?"

"Cut the sweet talk, Chase. You and I both know it's not your strong suit." Avalon moved her hair back out of her face and crossed her legs the other way before regarding him with narrowed eyes. "I thought we had a deal."

Chase's face held a blank expression that lasted a few seconds before he took a breath. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that. I'm sure that we've made a lot of different deals that I may or may not have kept up my end on."

"We made the deal that as soon as I left the Vipers I was out. Like, completely out, yeah? Not only that but I held up my end of it and helped you with whatever you needed until your girlfriend went completely psycho and shot me."

"She was already crazy, Pinky, you knew that," Chase reminded her. "But she was a good lay so I put up with it." Bringing up his hands he tried to scratch the side of his neck, then cursed as he bashed the chains against his chest. "Dammit these things are annoying. Anyway, to answer your question, you _are _out of the Vipers. I'm pretty sure the fact that I'm in here right now proves that."

She gave him the stink-eye. "So why is it, Mr. Leader of the Whack, did Skye and Summer try to run me down in an alleyway?" Chase continued to blink at her and she leaned towards him. "I know you, Chase. You always try to think of a way to make sure that you're the one that comes out on top in your agreements. And in this situation you have yourself protected in jail with your connections, while the rest of us are stuck in your wake of destruction."

"Don't you think you're being a bit overdramatic?"

"No, Chase, I don't think I'm being overdramatic. I've finally had everything in my life going back to normal. As normal as I can have it, anyway. And things were going great for me, I was starting to think that I could actually be happy, and I am for the most part. But then those two boofheads came and tried to stick me. So I can only assume that they've been gone for so long and only just _suddenly _came back, that there's something you've done."

Chase licked his lips then sat up straight before leaning towards her. He glanced at once of the guards that were watching the room and caught his eye, staring him down before turning back to the orange ranger and chewed his lower lip. "Everything that I've ever told you has been the truth. I took you in because you needed a family and I saw that you were hurting. I kept you around because I saw that whatever you put your mind to, you'll do it with everything within you. I took the fall for Summer because I saw how badly you wanted to make a change and if I kept you in it, something terrible would've come out from it. Everything that I've ever said to you I have not lied about.

"However, I had no idea that Summer and Skye were even back in Angel Grove if they were because you're not the only one that's trying to better yourself. Though I guess I have plenty of time to work on that…my trial's coming up soon so we'll see what they have to say about how long I'm going to be in here." He let out a short sigh. "Maximum's not so bad," he added. "At least I know where I'm going to sleep."

"Chase…" Avalon trailed off, leaning back in her seat. She tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling, noticing there were strange stains splattered around. "Why should I believe anything you're saying? In case you've forgotten, you promised to blow my brains out on more than one occasion."

Chase moved his lower jaw to the side before chuckling to himself. "Did I mention that I got a psych exam done and that they've diagnosed me with bipolar disorder?" He laughed even harder as Avalon lowered her chin and gave him an incredulous look. "Yeah, if I had actually listened to Skye or Lance about there actually being something wrong with me that would've saved me a lot of trouble and the rest of you guys a lot of trauma."

"What about Summer?" Avalon gave a wry smile.

"Like I said, Summer's just nuts."

"I don't think the fact that you knocked her up and then her losing the baby helped matters much," Avalon commented. "But, yeah…she always has been the ruthless one. I feel kind of bad for her, really. It doesn't seem like she wants to get better but is just sucked so deep into this thing. I mean, her mother is gone, her father is in and out of jail."

Now Chase laughed. "Geez and before you were at each other's throats."

"I said I feel sorry for her, not that I actually like her." Avalon regarded him curiously. "So you really didn't have a clue that Summer and Skye were back here in Angel Grove, yeah? You're not trying to give me the run around?"

"No, I'm honestly not. And if you don't believe me, that's fine."

Avalon regarded Chase for a long moment and he looked back at her. She became frustrated knowing that despite the things they had gone through together, she wasn't ever going to be one hundred percent sure he was ever telling the truth. And that thought alone is what scared her more than anything else.

Standing up, the orange ranger signaled to the guard she was ready to go and left the main floor. After being checked by the guard so that she didn't bring anything out of the visitation area, she took her backpack back from the check-in area and started to leave. She looked back into the visitation area and watched as Chase was stood up from the table and led out of the room. She turned her head away and left to go back to the front desk, certain she'd never see him again.

* * *

><p>"Jason, honey, we have something we need to talk to you about."<p>

Jason Lee Scott turned away from his computer to face his mother, who stood in the doorway of his room. Behind her was his father, who appeared just as serious as he did. The former red ranger nodded and motioned for them to enter his room. Well, it wasn't exactly his room, but one of the guest rooms in his Aunt and Uncle's house. He had been there with his mother and father ever since they had gotten the news of him having had a drug overdose.

It had occurred during a time of Jason's life that was so hectic. He had nothing but ranger duties and his school work to go through and after having been jumped by the High Flyers, the rival gang to the Vipers he found himself wanting to be stronger, to be sure nothing would happen to himself or his friends again, so he started to take steroids before knowing of the history of addiction and substance abuse in his family. After hearing what happened to his uncle he quickly stopped taking steroids and made the tough decision to go with his family to stay with him and his Aunt until he was sure he was back on is feet.

Now as Jason watched his parents, Caine and Marissa, walk into his room, he found his stomach turning itself into knots. Much like the knots he had felt when he realized that the next school year was going to start soon for him. Back in Angel Grove, his friends had already started taking classes, as from what Billy had told him over the phone. He couldn't believe they were going into their senior year without him, but at the same time he knew they were doing a good job without his leadership. The power rangers were on the news nearly as much as when he had been on the team and seeing all of their accomplishments, after what had gone on with Ivan Ooze, he was nothing short of proud of them.

"What's going on?" He asked them. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, sweetie," Marissa replied with a tired smile. "There's just been a lot that we've been thinking about recently, some new event that we'd like to speak with you about."

"Like what?"

"Well, Jason, your Uncle Dennis has been out of the hospital for a while now," Caine explained. "And his treatment is going well. Your Aunt Shelly says it doesn't look like there's much that we can do for him anymore."

"He…he's not dying is he?" Jason asked quietly.

"No. No, nothing like that." Caine laughed lightly and reached out, ruffling his son's hair. "I mean that he's out of rehab, he has a great support group that he goes to every week, Aunt Shelly has cut back her work hours to make sure that things are okay and…" he exchanged a glance with Marissa. "There's really not much for us to do out here anymore."

"So, honey," Marissa started. "We know that you're registered to start your senior year at school and it starts in a couple of weeks," she explained. "We were wondering what you thought about that? Going to school out here, staying with your Uncle a little bit longer or going back to Angel Grove?"

The former red ranger's mouth dropped open for a second. "Angel Grove?" He repeated. "I…we…we're going back?"

He slowly turned back to his computer and stared at the schedule of classes he had sitting in front of them. He was actually pretty excited about them, but being able to go back to Angel Grove…he thought about it a lot when he first arrived at his uncle's house. That only left one question.

What would he be going back to?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Thanks to _I love power rangers7135, Adela, AstroPink3000, TaitanoRules555, heartpunker123, Ashley, brankel1, TerraHart, Rose Specktor, and Guest27_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	18. Chapter 18: Mind, Body, Spirit

**Chapter 18**

_Mind, Body, Spirit_

* * *

><p>Jason paced back and forth across his room, his cell phone to his ear. He waited as the phone continued to ring and ring, before letting out a sigh of annoyance. He pulled the phone away from his ear, making sure he was calling Zack's number, before putting it back. It continued to ring and ring and finally, when he was about to give up, the line was finally picked up.<p>

"Zack?" Jason asked.

"No, honey, its Mrs. Taylor," his mother said patiently. "Zack's not here right now. I guess he left his phone behind."

"Oh." Jason ran a hand through his hair. That's how it had been the past week or so as he had tried to get in contact with the former black ranger and his best friend. He was going to tell him about his potential move back to Angel Grove, maybe get some advice on it, but every time he called he either had to leave a message or his mother would pick up and explain he wasn't there. It was getting to the point where he wasn't sure if Zack was avoiding him or if he really did have a lot going on. "Well, do you think you could tell him to cal me back? I mean, if he gets the chance to call back? I know he's been busy lately."

"I'll try," Mrs. Taylor said with a slight sigh. "He's always out so late now. I usually don't even notice if here's here or not, he's usually in his room." She then paused. "You wouldn't happen to know if there's anything wrong with him do you? I know he hasn't been calling you back lately, but maybe he's sent an email or a letter."

Jason frowned, suddenly concerned for his best friend. His mother didn't even know where he was half the time and Zack was usually really good at making sure that he communicated with people as much as possible. He was the only one that Jason knew that would call to tell someone when he was leaving, and when he arrived before walking right through the door. This was the guy that could talk to anybody with no fear and managed to win over the ice queen, Angela, before having left Angel Grove. Something had to be wrong.

The last thing he wanted to do was worry Mrs. Taylor for no reason, especially considering there were so many things they had to keep quiet when it came to their secret life of being power rangers. There were still so many things he couldn't tell his _own _parents about why he had to constantly leave placed at such odd times, but this felt different.

"Well, I haven't had time to check my email in a while," Jason said slowly. That was a lie; he had checked his email constantly since he left Angel Grove, to make sure he stayed in contact with his friends. "But I'll definitely send him one soon. I've been so busy out here, you know? But I'll definitely get into contact with him soon and I'll let you know, Mrs. Taylor. I'm sure he's just hanging out with some friends. He's moved to a new place, doesn't really know anyone there, I'm sure it's not a problem."

"I hope you're right," Mrs. Taylor agreed. "Bye Jason, I'll talk to you soon."

"Goodbye." Jason hung up the phone and pulled it away from his ear and punched in Trini's number. He continued to pace back and forth one more, now wondering what it was that was keeping Zack was getting in contact with them, then shifted his attention to the phone when he heard the former yellow ranger's voice come on the phone. "Trini?"

"Jason, hey!" Jason couldn't help but smile. Trini sounded better than he had ever heard her. "How are things I'm so sorry I haven't called in a while, things have been so great over here." He could hear rustling and figured she was shifting on a bed. "I've learned so much about my heritage over here. It's all so amazing. I wish you guys could see it."

"It sounds like fun," Jason agreed. "I'm glad you're having such a good time. It must be very different from Angel Grove."

"Everything is different from Angel Grove, that's true," Trini agreed. Jason could practically see her smile, her voice was so warm. "But I miss home and everything that came with it." She paused briefly. "I eve miss being a ranger. My communicator is so quiet now, it's so weird. Hey, not long ago…did you ever…hear your zord, like, crying?"

"Kind of like it was in pain?" Jason asked. He heard Trini let out a started gasp and deduced she had heard the same thing. "Yeah, I heard it. It was like it was crying out for me or something. I heard it. I heard the tyrannosaurus zord crying for me. It sounded like it was scared."

"I heard the same thing for the Sabertooth Tiger," Trini agreed. "I knew we had a sort of connection with our zords, through our powers, but I didn't think it would be that strong. I mean, our communicators don't even go off anymore, but I know they're always fighting monsters as much as they had before. I guess because our powers were copied and we didn't actually lose them, we were still able to connect with them."

"Yeah…" Jason took a deep breath. "Speaking of Angel Grove…I have something I need to tell you. Or, I need your advice really, and you've always been able to give me good advice." He sat down on the end of his bed. "So maybe you could help me out."

"Of course, Jason. What's going on?"

"Well, you know how we moved out to be closer to my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Shelly to look after him while he went through his treatment? Well, he's doing a lot better now and my Mom and Dad were just telling me that we don't have to necessarily stay here anymore, to be supportive to him. But the thing is because we don't necessarily need to be here anymore, they were saying that I could either stay here and go to school for a while, or go back to Angel Grove and do my senior year there."

"Jase, that's so awesome! You'll be able to see our friends again." Trini then noticed the tone to his voice. "But…I can't help but notice that you don't sound too happy."

"I guess I'm not," Jason admitted. "I'd love to be able to see our friends again, honestly. That's the thing that's really making me want to go back. But it's everything else that's that problem. So many things have changed. Not only are we not rangers anymore, but they've done so much while we were gone. It'd be like going away to summer camp and seeing what's changed when you get back."

"Are you afraid that you're not going to be able to get back into the group? That's sill, Jason. They're your friends. They're not going to exclude you from anything."

"Well, I guess what I mean is that I don't really know Rocky, Adam, or Aisha very well and I'm afraid it'll be awkward. Especially when they have to go off and do their ranger duties and I can't help them at all. I guess I'm just used to being the leader and going straight into battle. I'm afraid things've changed too much."

"Everything changes, Jason. It wouldn't be life if it didn't happen. We grow older; we change our interests, things around us. We get jobs and move away. If everything stayed the same, life would be too boring. Would you want to stay the same as you are now when you're forty years old?"

"If I can _look _the same—"

"Jason! Don't tell me you're afraid of growing grey hair."

"Not grey hair, going bald. It runs in the family and by the time I can't hide it with a hat I'm hoping I will be old enough so that I can put myself into seclusion." He smiled as Trini laughed.

"Don't be silly, Jason. Things are going to be okay, I know it will. Whether you decide to go back to Angel Grove or not, I'll support your decision. You know I'm always here for you."

"I know." Jason cleared his throat. "Speaking of which, have you gotten in contact with Zack lately? Every time I try to call him, he doesn't pick up and even his mother is starting to get worried. She said that he's always gone or lock himself in his room. She can't tell what's going on with him."

"No. I've called him a few times too, even emailed him and I haven't gotten anything in response. I don't think anything's wrong, though, I haven't sensed it. I'm sure Zack's just adjusting to everything that's going on out there. He's the one that's moved the furthest away and he doesn't have any family where they are." She paused. "Not that I even _know _where they are. I can't even send a letter."

"I know, that's the strange part," Jason agreed. "But we know Zack; he's always talking to someone. He'll get into contact with us soon." He looked at his watch. "Hey, I have to get going, I need to get workout in before dinner. I'll talk to you later, Trini. I'm glad you're enjoying your time in Vietnam."

"Me too, Jason. Talk to you later."

Jason hung up the phone and flopped back onto his bed. He looked around at the pictures of him and his friends that he had put up on the walls. Pictures of them in the park, pictures of them hanging out at school, pictures of them doing homework together in the Command Center. They had always been such great friends before they received their powers and the duty to protect Angel Grove, and that friendship had blossomed since they had continued to fight alongside each other, bringing in others as time went on.

So why was that the only thing he could focus on?

Why was he so worried about _not _being a ranger more than he was afraid of being able to fit back in with his friends?

"That sense of responsibility must've gotten to me more than I thought," Jason remarked under his breath. He laughed lightly, remembering when he and the rangers had first gotten their powers and how he had been the first one to agree to take them on. He didn't know what it was that made him do it, he was nothing but a normal teenager that liked to hang out with friends and procrastinate on homework a little bit and having superpowers was something he had never thought of.

But it just seemed so right.

Maybe going back to Angel Grove was the right thing, too.

* * *

><p>"Zordon, do you want me to call the rangers to the Command Center now?" Alpha asked as he turned away from the viewing globe. So far there had been no attacks anywhere in the city. No disturbances that would bring the rangers into any fights. "I think it would be the best time to explain the powers of the ninjetti to them. The sooner we get it done, the better it will be as their powers progress."<p>

"I believe you're right, Alpha. Please contact them and tell them to teleport here as soon as possible," Zordon declared.

Alpha nodded and turned back to the control panel and started to press a few buttons on it. He then waited for the rangers to arrive at the Command Center and waved as he walked over to them. "Greetings my friends, I hope you're having a great day."

"We are, Alpha," Bailey agreed as she walked over and gave her friend a hug. "But we're kind of confused too. There haven't been any monster attacks."

"Yeah, why'd you call for us if there isn't any trouble?" Rocky added. He scratched the back of his neck. "I was just in the middle of a really good burger, too. Ernie's trying out a new recipe for the Youth Center and I promised I would help him test it out."

"Of course, Rocky," Kimberly teased him. "Anything having to do with food will need the Jaws of Life to pull you away." She laughed as the red ranger rolled his eyes and his friends around him all smiled. "I'm kidding Rocky; I think it's cool that you can help out Ernie that way."

"I know." He placed his hands on his stomach as it growled loudly. "And I was so close to tasting it."

"We'll worry about your eating habits later, Rock." Aisha tilted her head towards Zordon. "Let the man talk."

Zordon chuckled at the rangers' antics before addressing them formally. "Rangers, ever since you've returned from Phaedos, you have continually managed to fend off every attack that Rita and Zedd have sent your way. However, there are still some things you need to know about your powers that will have great consequences if they fall into the wrong hands."

"Fall into the wrong hands?" Avalon repeated, scrunching up her nose. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Your power is linked directly to your power coins," Alpha explained. "That's how it worked with your past powers as well. Remember when you gave up your power coins to Goldar so that you could get your parents back from Rita safe and sound?"

"Affirmative," Billy agreed. "When we gave over the power coins the power went with it. Even then I was confused, Zordon. Why would the powers be handed over that easily when we were chosen by the Great Power to be the ones that take them?"

"The choice of the Great Power to bestow them upon you is something that can never be taken for granted," Zordon agreed. "But that doesn't mean there are ramifications that we can't get by when it comes to the powers. The creation of the Great Power I something that neither of us were around for and there are still so many things about it that we don't understand. However Alpha and I, years ago, had found a map that led us to the desert of despair on Phaedos that held the original power coins."

"Like that map that was leading us through the desert of despair to find Dulcea?" Tommy asked.

"That's correct, Tommy. Phaedos is the planet that holds a lot of power, starting with the first power you guys have obtained, then going on to the ninjetti power you have now. Somehow, Rita had obtained the Dragon Power Coin while we had found the other five. If that had not happened, Tommy would not have been an evil green ranger."

"You mean he would've been on our side the whole time?" Kimberly asked. She looked over at her boyfriend and laid her hand on his forearm comfortingly. "He wouldn't have had to go through all of that pain under Rita's orders?"

"We may never know what would have happened if Rita hadn't gotten his power coin, Kimberly," Alpha reminded her. "But you can't forget that without that fighting experience, you wouldn't have become strong enough to defeat him and we wouldn't have the power of the white ranger on our side. We only created those powers after the powers of the green ranger had been destroyed."

"Then when it came to the power of the thunderzords, they were powered by the Power Coins as well," Zordon continued, his voice booming over the rangers. "The ones that took in more power to maintain the use of the thunderzords. However, when Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina overloaded your zords with insurmountable power, the power coins couldn't take it and were destroyed. That is why we sent you back to Phaedos, to look for the Great Power. Not only would it be something that would be great for the revitalization of your power, but it was something that would continue to bring hope for the rest of the universe. If that's where the Power Coins of origin had been created, then there was a great chance that the ninjetti power was to be there as well.

"However, you ninjetti Power Coins are different and are more dangerous than the dinosaur Power Coins of before."

"More dangerous?" Adam repeated.

"Dangerous for us or dangerous for others?" Bailey asked. The purple ranger chewed her lower lip with worry. "What if these fall into the wrong hands just as easily as they had when Rita and Zedd took their parents? Would we be able to survive then?"

"Please, Bailey," Alpha reassured her. "It's serious, but for an entirely different reason. These powers are more dangerous for _you_ rangers, not for those that get their hands on them."

"But Bailey's original powers, the power of the Ankylosaurus were dangerous in anyone's hands," Avalon pointed out.

"That's right," Kimberly agreed. "You told us that whoever got the power of the Ankylosaurus, they would get the power. Good or evil. Is that the same with these coins?"

Zordon shook his head. "Unlike the Dino Coins that you had before, the Ninja Power Coins draw from the life-force from each of you rangers. The powers are directly connected to the essence of your being. If you're away from your coins for too long, it will harm your body, making you weaker and weaker until your body can't sustain it anymore."

Tommy swallowed thickly. "So…we can _die _if we're separated from our Power Coins for too long?" He looked around at his friends as they all gave different sounds and expressions of shock. Kimberly and Adam exchanged a glance and Kimberly looked down at her hands, gently playing with her fingers. Avalon let out a heavy sigh and brushed her hair back away from her face, chewing her lower lip. Bailey frowned, her eyebrows furrowing together, freckled nose wrinkling. Rocky and Aisha exchanged worried glances.

It was the first time that death had really occurred to any of the rangers. At least to Tommy anyway. He thought as soon as they had their powers, there wasn't anything that would cause them to be destroyed or else. Their bodies in general were most adept to pain and strength, giving them more athletic forms than others. Even he noticed that he could lift more after gaining his powers the first time. But he still had to work hard to progress. He just never thought of it. Sure, health teachers and parents were always warning them they weren't as invincible as they thought, but he thought that was just a warning. He hadn't ever thought about it particularly.

Now knowing that their powers were what could get to them even quicker than making a mistake while having a good time…it was a lot sobering than he thought it would be.

"Affirmative," Billy agreed. He licked his lips as he thought of an easier way to explain. "Much like the Dino Power Coins being attached to the morphing grid, and how our Dino Coins were destroyed, the link was broken. The Dino Coins cannot work without the link to the morphin grid and it's probable that it'll cause a lot of damage if we tried to morph with them once more. Much like the Ninja Coins where they're linked directly to our life force, our very essence of being. Once that connection is broken, it'll be difficult to put back, thus causing it to be something more dangerous to ourselves rather than for those that get the coins."

"Precisely, Billy," Alpha agreed. He trotted a few steps forward. "You must be very careful to have your morphers and Ninja Coins on you at all times."

"However, that does not mean that there aren't ways that you could potentially keep yourself alive as you work to retrieve the coins, if that time ever comes. It is as Dulcea has told you that within each person are an animal spirit waiting to be released. When times become dire, connect yourselves with the animals spirits and they will be your guides."

"Dulcea explained how the power of the ninjetti works," Tommy said. "How the Great Power that drives it would destroy us if we hadn't mastered the power of the ninjetti."

"She is correct," Zordon agreed. "Years ago the Nathadians created and brought the Great Power to Phaedos for safe keeping and placed it inside the monolith that you opened to retrieve the powers. That power can only be tapped into if the connected between the ninjetti and the Great Power is strong enough to contain it. It has to become accustomed to the perfect union of mind, body, and spirit. Talents and efforts that I see in each and every one of you. It was the Order of the Meledan that protected it along with the Nathadians before the Nathadians perished and Dulcea became the remaining survivor."

"What was the Order of the Meledan, Zordon?" Rocky asked. "Dulcea explained it to us; it was a peace keeping group that was kind of like us, you led them."

If Alpha could smile, he would've beamed with pride. "He was the finest commander anyone has ever seen," he explained. "It was the faction that put Ivan in the chamber. There were aliens and morphological beings that came from all over the galaxy to try and keep the peace despite all of the wars and battles from evil being that were starting to accumulate faster than they could be defeated. It was the same faction, led by Zordon after putting away Ivan that started the fight against Rita Repulsa, almost 10,000. The fight between them stretched out about 2,000 years and stretched across many galaxies and planets, many falling into the crossfire. We have lost many of the Order of the Meledan over the years."

"Many of my warriors, my friends, have perished over the years as well," Zordon added. "It was during this time that Rita agreed to work with Lord Zedd to try and defeat me one and for all."

"So they teamed up even before they got married?" Avalon asked, her eyebrows flying upwards. "Whoa, talk about a long lasting relationship, yeah?"

"This is what has started her attack on Earth, and set their current occupation of the moon and their revenge against you in the present day in motion," Zordon continued. "It was I that sealed her in the space dumpster after years of death and destruction. Before she was sealed away, she sealed me as well, in this power tube out of time and space. Though this tube I have connections to other planets and had put myself in connection with King Lexian and Alpha, who then became to be one of my dearest friends, as of yours."

"Wow," Adam remarked. "I guess we really _were _destined to get these powers then."

"And to protect the Earth," Aisha agreed. "And all the other galaxies."

"You know we'll do everything we can to make sure we can do this, Zordon," Bailey reminded him. "We'll make sure we can get completely control of these ninjetti powers and destroy Rita and Zedd once and for all."

"She's right," Tommy agreed. He turned back to his friends. "Knowing all of this, understanding where our powers come from and what they mean…knowing _we _were chosen for a reason. We can't back down now. We have to continue working as hard as we can to ensure that there's peace. And once there's peace here on Earth there can be peace all over the Galaxy. There' going to be some rough times ahead, battles we don't think we'll ever be able to win. But we have to be sure that we keep going no matter what and don't give up on ourselves."

"Count me in, bro," Bailey agreed. "Nothing's going to stop me now."

"With all of us working together, there' nothing we can't do," Avalon added.

"Whoo! Try and stop us, Tommy. We're behind you one hundred percent," Kimberly agreed.

_Is that a good idea? _The destruction of the thundermegazords replayed in his head as Billy, Rocky, Aisha, and Adam all gave their own verbal agreements. With a smile, Tommy reached out his hand and waited for the others to place their hands atop it as well. Once every hand was placed atop of his he looked each of his friends in the eye as they gave a nod of confirmation.

"Power Rangers!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So there's a little more of Tommy's and Kimberly's struggles as well as bringing in Jason a bit more. There's more with the rest of the rangers starting with the next chapter, especially Kat.

Thanks to _I love power rangers7135, heartpunker123, Adela, brakel1, TerraHart, AstroPink3000, and Ashley_ for reviewing.

**~Avalon**


	19. Chapter 19: Illusions

**Chapter 19**

_Illusions_

* * *

><p>"Hey girl." Aisha looked up from her book as Kimberly and Avalon walked into the yellow ranger's bedroom. She set her book aside and hugged it to her chest, pulling her legs back so that there was space for the pink and orange rangers to climb up on the end of her bed.<p>

"Hey!" The yellow ranger smiled at the girls. "What's up?"

"We wanted to hear how your first day at the vet went," Kimberly replied. She scooted back until her back was resting against the wall and pulled her legs up into a sitting position. "Was it as fun as you thought it was going to be? Were the puppies cute?"

"Better question, do you get to bring any of them home?" Avalon asked. She brushed her long, thick hair back and pulled it into a ponytail before stretching out onto her stomach.

Aisha laughed a little, rolling her eyes at her friends' excitement. Not that she wasn't excited herself, being able to work at the veterinarian's office was nothing short of a dream. But it was a lot more work than she thought it would be ad so far she had gotten so attached to the animals that were there so that she couldn't help but become sad when some of them were adopted while others were continuously passed over.

"Let me just tell you guys, the animals are all so cute," she gushed. "There's a puppy named Buster that is always so happy to play with anyone that comes by. He's always running around the worker's legs and plays so much, it's so cute. Then there's a tabby kitten named Boots that's kind of afraid of people and only comes out of its cage when there's a doctor around. She's not very comfortable around a lot of people, but we're working to get her acquainted with others so that she can be adopted."

"What happens if she doesn't?" Avalon asked, playing with the thread from Aisha's comforter. "Can you adopt her or does she have to go to a doctor?"

Aisha chewed her lower lip as she shook her head. "That's the hard part of the job," she explained. "There're so many dogs and cats that come in where the owners couldn't take care of them anymore, or they were too aggressive for the owners to handle, or they're strays. If no one wants them anymore, and if they don't get adopted, then we don't have a choice but to put them down." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I wish I could save all of them, but I'm not sure that my Mom and Dad would take any of them in."

"Well, why don't you try asking around to see if anyone can adopt?" Kimberly asked. She placed her hand on her chest. "I can't do it. My Mom doesn't want anything to tear up the furniture. Trust me; I've tried for ages to get something. Even a little bunny. But she says 'no'."

"I don't think we could take anyone in either," Avalon added. "Don't mention it to Bailey though, she'll have a fit if she thinks she can get a pet and then get told that she can't. She's wanted a pet for so long it's not even funny."

"It might help though," Aisha pointed out. "Taking care of a pet has amazing healing possibilities, especially in the means of tragedies." She held up her hands. "Not that I'm trying to push it on you, but there's so many that need help and I can't imagine what would happen to them if we couldn't."

"So why not ask Adam or Rocky? Can't they take any in?" Kimberly pointed out. She and Avalon then exchanged a glance then looked over at the yellow ranger, who lowered her head and started to twist the ends of her braids. "Or are you too afraid to ask Rocky, you know…cause you like him so much?" She leaned out of the way as Aisha whipped around and picked up her pillow, ready to whack the pink ranger with it. But the pink ranger reached out her hands and deflected the blows from hitting her in the face. "C'mon, Aisha, you know you like him."

"That's not the point!" Aisha snapped back despite her laughter. She picked up her pillow and started to whack the pink ranger over the head mercilessly. "We're talking about getting new homes for these animals. Adam, I think would be able to take some of them in. I'm not sure about Rocky, though. I mean, they have so much going on right now and I wouldn't want there to be anything else that worries him."

Kimberly and Aisha exchanged confused glances before the orange ranger finally asked the question out loud, "what's going on with him? I haven't noticed anything different in his behavior, mate."

The yellow ranger chewed her lower lip for a few moments. Should she tell them what was going on? It wasn't like Rocky had asked her to keep it a secret. But on the other hand, he would be upset if anything she had told him in confidence he started to spread to everyone. But, they were all friends and this was something that would help him, if he got more opinions on what to do. _He's been dealing with this for o long, he needs to know that someone is there for him, to support him with whatever he decides to do._

"He's….you know how he has so much responsibility at home?" Aisha finally remarked, causing the other two girls to laugh. "Well, his father left their family when he was really young. So he had to quickly help out his mother so that they could all stay afloat. He does his best to make sure that his brothers and sisters have everything they need. But he never wanted to take over the position of the 'man of the house' because he felt that it would be like he would grow up to be his father."

"That doesn't make sense." Kimberly frowned. "Rocky's not like his father at all. He would never purposefully leave anyone."

"I know, and I keep telling him that. But he always feels so guilty after having promised something to them and then having to leave on his ranger duties. They're all so close…he hates not being able to tell them the truth, but if he does he knows he might lose his powers and saving Angel Grove, because they're part of Angel Grove is so important to him. But…his father has come back recently, asking to be part of their live again. Rocky kicked him out and he and his mother got into a fight."

"That's awful."

"I know." Aisha tilted her head to the side, gently shaking her head. "I know. But I think there's a chance that, maybe, he wants his father back. I mean, you can't have gone this long and have not thought about it from time to time. I'm worried about him. He always gets so quiet and angry whenever he's brought up so Adam and I usually try to stay away from the subject. But when he was talking about him a few days ago…I don't know, I think that there was a part of him that was really kind of excited that he was back there and he was angry about it. That he thought there was a part of him that was a little kid again, just waiting for his Dad to come home."

"Well, do you know why he left?" Avalon tilted her head to the side and toyed with the end of her ponytail. "I'm not saying that there's a good reason for any man to leave his family, but was he abusive or anything?"

"No. I think it was that he had so many kids and had no idea how to care for them when he had a job that paid so little, making him stress out a lot. I guess he just couldn't take it."

"Still, that's a really nasty reason for leaving. So Rocko had to step up and take the spot? I can understand that. I can understand how he's so worried about him being back, especially if he's not sure how he feels in the first place. He needs the time to figure it out and his mother wanting to jump ahead and having him back probably isn't going to make things easy for him."

"I know." Aisha slowly smiled. "That's why I invited him to Angela's party. I mean, I invited Adam, too. Both of them could use some time to get their minds off of things." She let out a short sigh, unable to hide the smile from her face as she brought her knees up to her chest. "I'm sure it'll be lots of fun." She then paused, her facial expression changing to one that of slight hesitation. "I think he knows the way I meant to ask him."

"Maybe not," Kimberly pointed out. "Sometimes guys have to be told directly to their face to know that you like them and even then they don't usually get that message."

"You're telling me," Avalon agreed. "After Billy and I kissed he still didn't believe that I was into him until I, literally, took him by the face and point blank told him that I liked him." She rubbed her neck. "I think he still questions it sometimes."

"No, he's just shy," Kimberly defended the blue ranger. "Yeah, he's had girlfriends before, including Trini, but he's never really had a chance to really get into that sort of thing."

"Sure." Avalon shrugged before starting to run her finger over the vipers tattoo on her wrist. "Though I wonder how long it would take for him to understand when I say that I went to see Chase in jail." She then turned to the pink and yellow rangers as their mouths dropped open and she shrugged again. "It's no big—"

"Don't you dare try to downplay it, Cadence Mitchell!" Kimberly declared, whacking the orange ranger on the shoulder.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?"

"It's not something that's a 'no big deal' situation." Kimberly leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Does Billy even know that you used to date him?"

"Yeah, I told him already." Avalon relayed the conversation that she had with the blue ranger when they had gone to the observatory for their date. "I didn't think that it was right to keep that from him. And I don't think its right to keep this from him either. But I need to tell Tommy and the other guys, too."

"Why?" Aisha slowly shook her head.

"Because…" the orange ranger trailed off for a minute as she thought, trying to figure out how to bring it up. "Because I needed closure. Not only did I finally get some answers from Chase that I've wanted to hear since this all started, but because, and I'm not sure about this, I think Summer and Skye are back. They attacked me once and I went to the police station to talk to Lt. Stone and he said there hasn't been any record of them coming back to town. I want you guys to be prepared just in case."

Kimberly brought her hands up to her face and let out a groaning sigh. "Av…"

"I don't like it when you call me Cadence, but I'd hope that you never say my name like that again, either."

"Don't be so stubborn, I'm just saying that you should've told us about it before," Kimberly said gently. "I mean, you kept all of this a secret before, and you saw what happened last time." She reached out and gently poked the orange ranger on her wounded shoulder. "But I guess it's good that you told us now. So we can be prepared."

"How dangerous are these guys?" Aisha asked.

"Take everything that Rita and Zedd have thrown our way and multiply it by, like, twenty and that's them. Especially because I'm sure they're not exactly right in the head." Avalon shook her head. "Like I said, I need to be honest about this sort of thing, yeah? I think he'd be really mad if I didn't say anything."

"I don't think Billy would be that mad," Aisha quickly defended him.

"Not Billy, Tommy," Avalon corrected her. "I thought he was a protective friend, but considering I'm going to be his sister soon, I think he's starting to get into that 'big brother' mode a lot sooner than I anticipated." She climbed off the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I believe I'm about to walk into a stern lecture. I'll see you guys later."

Kimberly and Aisha waved to the orange ranger as she left the room then turned back to each other. "So, are you and Tommy going to Angela's party tonight?" the yellow ranger changed the subject. "I heard it's supposed to be a big blowout. Lots of fun, food, and everything."

"I think so," Kimberly agreed. She brought a finger up to her chin and started to tap it. "That means that I finally have a good use for that new dress I bought last week. It's totally rad. It has this slit up the side with a pink, mesh material that reaches the same length as the rest of the dress."

"That sounds so awesome, girl!" Aisha declared. She started to say something else, but trailed off when her gaze was taken to the window. She got to her knees and peered out the window, squinting towards the grassy area in the backyard. She looked for a second then spotted a tiny white animal moving across the backyard.

"Aisha, what is it?"

"It's a cat!" Aisha beamed before turning and leaping off of her bed, hitting the floor running. "C'mon, let's get it! It might be a stray or lost or something." She and Kimberly hurried out of the room and out the back door. The two looked around the backyard before finding the small, white cat resting underneath a bush.

"Here kitty." Kimberly reached out towards it and the cat reacted viciously, snarling and slashing her across the forearm. "Ow!" The pink ranger squealed and quickly brought her arm back. The lines across her forearm bled a little bit. "Owww…that kitty isn't so nice."

"I'm sure it's just scared," Aisha said. She reached out towards the cat and picked it up. It purred loudly and nestled against Aisha's chest. "There. See? It's alright, kitty. We'll take care of you."

"Well, it is cute." Kimberly reached out and gently rubbed the cat on top of its head. "I wonder if it has a family."

Aisha shrugged as she inspected the cat. "It doesn't look to have any tags," she murmured. "But we should take it to the vet, it might have a chip inside it and someone may be looking for him." She paused then turned the cat around before giggling. "I mean, her," she quickly apologized. The cat meowed and climbed up onto Aisha's shoulder, purring once more and nuzzling its head against her cheek. "We'll go to the vet and see if she's chipped or anything."

"Do you want to go right now?" Kimberly asked. "If there aren't any chips in her, maybe you can take her. Save her from being put down like all of the others!"

"Hey, yeah!" Aisha beamed and the two girls hurried back into the house. "Let me just get my shoes. I'm sure my Mom and Dad won't mind. And then we can get her all of those cute cat clothes and toys and stuff."

Kimberly clapped her hands together and followed her friend into the house.

* * *

><p>"What a day for Zordon and Alpha to go into their recharge, right?" Fred asked as he put down a blaster and inspected the side. Wires poked out all over the place; otherwise it appeared to be in working order. He wiped a smudge of grease off his hands and turned to Bailey and Billy as they worked on the ninjetti weapons beside them.<p>

"I don't think it'll be that much of a problem," Billy said with a half smile. "Rita and Zedd haven't really been throwing anything our way as of late. I think we'll be okay."

"Famous last words, yeah?" Bailey teased him. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked over Adam's Frog Force. She twisted it back and forth in her hands then frowned. "Do you think it'd be possible to increase the range on this? Or the rest of our weapons? I mean, I know they were created by the powers that be, but that doesn't mean that we can't increase what has been given to us, right?"

Billy thought about it for a moment before shaking his head lightly, blond hair shaking in front of his blue-green eyes. "I don't think that'd be possible, Bay," he commented. "Not only, as you've already articulated, were these weapons created for our use specifically, but I don't think we have the power or the abilities to enhance them, especially considering we don't know what sort of things we'd be tampering with if we did try to work on them." He picked up a scrap piece of meal. "However, can we make our _own _weapons? I believe we can. Actually, it's something that I've been looking a lot into as of late. Maybe even create a new branch of powers that we could use if these aren't enough."

Fred regarded him curiously before exchanging a look with Bailey, who appeared just as concerned. "Yu think the ninjetti powers wouldn't be enough?"

"I didn't say that," Billy protested. "But the monsters we face are continuously changing and growing stronger, so we need to be prepared just in case." He picked up a scanning device and flipped it in his hand. "You never know what'll happen next. Rita and Zedd might actually do something right for once." He laughed along with the two younger kids and went back to looking over the Wolf Howler. A light sigh escaped his lips as he examined it. "Who knows?"

Bailey smiled and reached over to pick up her Ankylo Arsenal then looked over at the Viewing Globe as something caught her eye. She frowned as it flickered like a TV being turned on and off repetitively. She replaced the weapon and backed away from the cart of weapon and walked over to the means that showed the rangers what they had to go up against when a new monster was coming to attack.

"What's up, Bay?" Fred called to her.

"Wait a minute…" Bailey trailed off as she tilted her head, looking at the Viewing Globe. She watched as the orange/gold light whirled across the face of the dome, quickly forming into a face, then manifested itself. She gasped loudly before turning to the blue ranger. "Billy. Billy! You should come see this."

Billy dropped the scanning device and wiped oil off his fingers before walking over to Bailey's side. He followed her shaky point and looked at the Viewing Globe. He stared hard as he watched the face of Diabolico appear on the View Globe, laughing at him. His surroundings slipped away from him as he watched the face of the monster that had killed his mother continue to laugh at him. A mocking, cruel laugh that taunted him; filling every nook and cranny of his head. It echoed in his head bouncing across his synapses, forcing him to his knees. Bringing his hands up to his ears, he tried to block it out, pressing as hard as he could with his palms, but it couldn't break away the laugh.

"No…" he said under his breath. "No."

_"You better catch me if you can. I have so many others that I'm going after now. The only way to stop me is if you can defeat me._

"It's Diabolico," Bailey said. "He's come back."

Fred, who was still standing with the weapons turned towards the two and frowned. He stood on his tip-toes to look over their heads before putting down a screwdriver and walking over. "What's going on?" He asked. "Is Billy okay?" He reached over and helped the blue ranger back to his feet and followed the rangers' gaze.

Billy swallowed thickly as he continued to watch Diabolico swirl back and forth across the Viewing Globe, his laughter increasing in volume by the second. He turned to Bailey, watching as her upper lip curled and her hands shook at her sides. She turned towards him.

"Are you ready?" Billy asked the purple ranger.

"Ready!" Bailey replied. The two quickly did the motions to morph into their ninjetti outfits.

"But guys!" Fred protested, trying to stop them before they teleported out of the Command Center. He turned back to the Viewing Globe and frowned as he looked at the static that glimmered across the surface of the dome. "There's nothing there."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So I'm in a pretty god good mood because it finally snowed here. I didn't have any classes today anyway, but it was still cool. Anyway, is there anything you'd like to see in the story as it goes on? Sorry this chapter is kind of short, I haven't had a lot of time to write lately.

**~Avalon**


End file.
